Road Trip 4: The Land Is Not as Bad as You Think
by Enthusiastic Fish
Summary: It's time for another road trip. Tony takes a break from Bahrain and Tim takes some time off from DC and they head to the wilds of Alaska. Part four of my Road Trip series. The others are Out of the Badlands, Back to the Badlands, and Beyond the Badlands. Already complete. 11 chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This story is the fourth part of my Road Trip series ( _Out of the Badlands, Back to the Badlands, Beyond the Badlands_ ). Tony has been in Bahrain, but he still wants a road trip with Tim, as they'd talked about at the end of _Beyond the Badlands_. They both have things to talk about, but neither of them realizes it. I'm straining the whole Badlands theme, and if I ever write another, I may just have to give up on it all together, but I got something in this time. :) This story is maintaining the AU of the previous stories, but it still fits into NCIS.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS and I'm not making money off it. At all. Ever.

* * *

 **The Land Is Not As Bad As You Think  
** by Enthusiastic Fish

 **Chapter 1**

It had been a very long, hot summer...followed by a long, humid...milder season. It couldn't really be called _winter_. Now, it was headed for summer again. It was time for an escape. He was ready for it.

He sat down in his air-conditioned apartment and pulled out his phone. He dialed.

" _Hello, you've reached Agent McGee. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."_

"Hey, Tim. That is the most professional message I've ever heard. It's Tony. I think it's time for that road trip we talked about. It'll give me the strength to face another Bahrain summer. Let me know."

He hung up and sat back, enjoying the cool air. The heat and humidity was terrible.

"Why would anyone want to live here?" he asked the walls. His team seemed okay with it, but he sure didn't like it. He tried not to reveal that at work, but his walls kept his secrets.

This was the perfect time to watch a movie. He had made a point of getting out and seeing the area, but sometimes, in the evenings it was nice to just sit and watch a piece of Americana. In this case, it was the _The Magnificent Seven_. A quintessential Western, even if it was an adaptation of _Seven Samurai_. It sure worked set in the Old West. And nothing could beat that theme song. Tony wasn't a big horse guy, but this song had always made him feel like he should become a cowboy. It was like someone had taken a cowboy riding through the countryside and turned it into music. He knew there was a remake, but he wasn't sure he could handle it. How could it possibly hold a candle to Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and the rest of them? It couldn't. That was that.

He grabbed some leftovers for dinner and ate while watching the movie. It was such a great one. Perfect for the end of the day.

Just as the closing credits started to roll, his phone rang. He checked who it was and smiled.

"Hey, McGee."

" _Are you still thinking Alaska?"_

"Yes. Absolutely. I need the complete opposite of here."

" _I'd think Antarctica would be more appropriate. Less humidity. One of the driest places on Earth_ and _it's really cold."_

"Ha. No way. That'd be too expensive."

" _True."_

"You in?"

" _Yeah. I could use a vacation, to be honest. I haven't had one since my honeymoon."_

"Not one? Come on, Probie. You gotta do better than that if you're going to last as team lead. Not everyone can be Gibbs and brood in the basement to relax."

Tim chuckled. _"Minus the Gibbs comparison, that's what Delilah tells me, too. I have the time coming. I was just waiting for the right time to use it. Delilah and I have taken a couple of days, but that's it."_

"Then, a trip to Alaska is exactly what's called for. How much time do you need to get ready for it?"

" _I'll have to check with the other team in the DC office to see about moving my guys around. They're both too new to be in charge on their own."_

Tony liked hearing Tim talk with such practicality. There was none of the anxiety that had kept him from accepting the position before.

" _Let's see... about a month from now? That'll give me time to make sure everything is set. It'll give you time to get a good flight without having to pay through the nose for it. And we can think about what part of Alaska we're going to see. There's no way to see the whole thing. I read once that it would take a full year to see every part of Alaska if you drove past a million acres a day. So we'll have to whittle that down just a bit."_

"Yeah. A lot a bit. A month works for me. I need to make sure everything will be set out here, too."

" _When was the last time_ you _took a vacation?"_

"A long one? Your wedding, but I've taken days off here and there, been to some of the places around Bahrain. Heck, I took a few days and went down to Socotra, that island with the weird trees. Sounds like I've done much better at getting time off than you."

" _That doesn't surprise me."_

"And just what do you mean by that?"

" _That you're much more likely to not work than I am,"_ Tim said, with a chuckle.

"Very funny. You want to plan on me flying over to DC and then we go from there?"

" _Yeah. That'll be easier than just trying to meet up in Alaska."_

"But remember that this is a _road_ trip. Just because I'm letting us fly out to Alaska doesn't mean that we're not going to be driving."

" _I know that. We'll just have to rent a car."_

"Good. Keep that straight, McGee. It's a road trip."

" _You keep saying that like you think I've got short-term memory loss. I know it's a road trip. You don't need to keep reminding me. What you need to do is figure out what part of Alaska we're going to see because we can't see even a fraction of it in the time we'll have."_

"How much time?"

" _No more than a week, plus a day or two to get there and back."_

"That's it? Come on!"

" _Tony, if I use all my vacation days on a road trip, Delilah may never forgive me."_

Tony laughed. "Well, if you put it that way, I guess I'll have to accept it."

" _Good. Let me know when you get your flight out here and we can get our flight to Alaska arranged."_

"Okay. Will do."

" _Hey...Tony?"_

"Yeah?"

" _Thanks."_

"Don't have to keep saying that, you know," Tony said. "It's been a long time."

" _Not long enough and it'll never be enough to adequately say it."_

"Once was enough," Tony said.

" _Thanks anyway."_

"You're welcome."

They both hung up and Tony leaned back against his couch. It was true. Tim didn't need to keep thanking Tony for helping him out after the whole Dearing debacle. The number of expressions of gratitude had faded as time went on, but Tim still said it. More than he should. But at the same time, Tony rather appreciated knowing that Tim was still grateful. If nothing else, his problems had actually helped them become much better friends.

Would this road trip buck the trend and just be about fun? Tony doubted it. He had his own thoughts that had begun to push for more attention. Whether Tim had something going on in his life or not, Tony definitely was planning on the road trip being a part of the solution.

That being said, it was time to get himself going on requesting the leave and making sure everything would be ready for when he left.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim hung up and sat back, tossing his phone onto the couch beside him and then stretching his long legs to their fullest extent. He knew that Tony had been working today, even though it was his weekend. It was nice to have their work weeks a bit off of each other's . Then, with the time difference, there were days that it was easy to get a hold of each other.

"Well?"

Tim looked over and smiled.

"He's ready for the road trip. Probably in a month, if I can swing it."

"You can. You just haven't," Delilah said. "You know that you _can_ do it."

Suddenly, he was a little worried.

"Do you mind that I'm doing this? Using some of my vacation days to go on a trip with Tony, not you?"

Delilah chuckled. "If you were to tell me that you're running off with Tony, then, yes, I'd mind. As it is, I don't mind at all. I just want you to get some time to relax. We can still take a few days later on. I'd rather have you over Christmas, anyway."

She rolled over to him and kissed him. Tim leaned into the kiss and then pulled back.

"I already have my name down for Christmas off this year."

"Good. Are you ready for another week?"

"Are you?" Tim asked, grinning.

"I'm always ready," Delilah said. "But you sometimes aren't."

It was far too true, Tim knew. He had some bad days, still. He'd had a few, especially when he'd just been promoted, days when he was sure he was only going to get his team killed. It was great to have Delilah there to talk him out of that negative mindset, and as he'd had the position for more time, those bad days had diminished in frequency and intensity.

"I feel ready."

"Good. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. How about an early dinner?"

"That sounds great."

Tim got up and they went into the kitchen together.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _One month later..._

Tony was thrilled to get off the plane in DC. He didn't care how long it took him to get out of the airport. He would be _off the plane_. He had flown from Bahrain to Doha which was only an hour, but then, from Doha to DC had been _fourteen_ hours. He had lucked out to get a seat with lots of leg room. However, fourteen hours was fourteen hours, and no amount of leg room could make up for being confined to such a small space for so long.

He was waiting for his turn to walk down the aisle, but he was willing to do that if it meant he'd be off the plane. He was thrilled when the people in front of him finally started moving.

He walked through the bridge and got off the plane. Because this was an international flight, he was then shuttled over to the International Arrivals building where he had to go through customs. Thankfully, as a U.S. citizen, there wasn't too much of a delay. He collected his luggage and walked out.

"Tony!"

Tony turned and grinned as he saw Tim standing there, waiting.

"Hey, Probie!"

Tim walked over and gave Tony the one-armed, manly hug.

"Not a probie anymore, Tony. I've got my own."

"You'll always be a probie to me," Tony said.

"Ha. Thank you. You need to get any more luggage?"

"Nope. I've got it already. I just want to get away from planes and sleep in a bed, not in a seat."

"You know that we'll be getting on another plane the day after tomorrow."

"All the more reason to _not_ be in an airport, now," Tony said. "Is Delilah okay with me crashing at your place?"

"You wouldn't be staying with us if it wasn't," Tim said, grinning.

"Delilah calls all the shots?"

"Nope. I just care more about her being happy than you," Tim said.

"Oh, wounded me to core, Tim. I may never recover."

"Well, you can work on it while we drive home."

"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way."

Tim gestured and they walked to the parking garage. Tony was surprised to see a different car than Tim's Porsche.

"New car?"

Tim nodded.

"When did this happen?"

"A few months ago."

"Problem with the Porsche?"

"Not enough room. Delilah's wheelchair fit, but it was hard to do. We decided that it made more sense to get one that fit her better."

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't bother you at all?"

Tim raised an eyebrow back at him.

"Should it?"

"Yes! It was a Porsche!"

Tim laughed. "My wife means more to me than my car did."

"Well, she should, but..."

"But nothing. I got a really good trade-in on the Porsche. This is a really nice car. Drives smooth. Gets good gas mileage...and Delilah's wheelchair fits easily."

Tony got in and looked around the interior.

"Okay. It's nice."

"Told you," Tim said, smiling.

He started the car and then drove out of the garage.

"So... you ever see Gibbs?" Tony asked.

Tim shrugged. "Sometimes. Not often." He looked over. "Ducky told you about his retirement, right?"

"Yeah. Even invited me to his retirement party, but that was a bit of a trek for one night."

Tim chuckled. "You didn't miss much. Ducky used it as the ultimate last chance to tell us stories when we couldn't interrupt him. He has Delilah and me over for dinner at least twice a month, sometimes more. I see Abby a lot. Jimmy and Bree have had us over a few times. It's kind of fun to have a couple close to our age to hang out with. But Gibbs... Well, he was always closer to you guys than he was to me. I mostly see him when cases overlap."

Tony wanted to say that wasn't true, but it was to some degree, although Tim's reticence to put himself forward coupled with Gibbs' stoicism and lack of social interaction only made things more difficult. Tim would never feel comfortable with just going over to Gibbs' place, as Tony himself would.

"How are things, case-wise?"

"Fine. I have bad days, but more good days than bad days."

"Good."

They got home fairly quickly. Tony hadn't seen Delilah since the wedding, and he wondered if she was really okay with him usurping Tim's vacation time.

Tim parked the car and got out. Tony grabbed his bag and followed him, noting anew all the little touches that indicated Delilah lived there.

"Delilah! We're here!" Tim called.

Delilah rolled into the room.

"Tony, nice to see you again. How are you enjoying Bahrain?"

"Nice to see you, too, Delilah. The summers suck," Tony said. "I hate the humidity and the heat."

"Yeah, but the winters are nice."

"I guess. Hard to tell the difference."

"Oh, crap," Tim said, suddenly.

"What?" Tony asked.

Delilah sighed. "You forgot, didn't you," she said.

"I did. It's Tony's fault," Tim said, pointing at him and smiling a little.

"What did you forget?"

"I forgot dinner. We got it ordered and I was supposed to stop on the way back. I'll go, right now."

"You want me to?" Tony asked.

"Nope. You'll just have to wait. That's what you get for making fun of my car," Tim said.

He hurried out the door, leaving Tony alone with Delilah. He looked at her for a moment and then, smiled.

"So...how's married life?" he asked.

"I can highly recommend it," she said, gesturing for Tony to sit down. "Tony, since Tim is gone..."

"Yeah? I did ask if it was okay with you if I crashed here."

"And it is. I just wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"For getting Tim to talk to me. Honestly, we might not have made it if he kept hiding what happened because he was ashamed of it. He told me that you were the one who convinced him to open up. I don't like bringing it up when he's around because Tim can still get so down on himself sometimes, but really, you helped us a lot...just by being there for Tim."

Tony shrugged, awkwardly. "Well, he's helped me out, too. It's mutual."

Delilah smiled. "I know, but just knowing what started it, knowing how bad it did get for him, it helps so much to understand...Tim. He and I really don't think the same way in any case, but knowing that he has an additional struggle keeps me from getting frustrated. It also helps when he has his... little moments."

"Still?"

"Yeah. Not much. More than he's probably admitted to you, but really, at this point, they're just little moments where he starts questioning himself. Usually at the beginning of the week. His therapist says that he probably will have this as a struggle for the long term. It's just part of who he is, and if it weren't for the fact that he's so good at his job and that he could go so much higher, I'd say that he should just give it up to save himself the stress, but Tim won't ever be satisfied with things being easy. He needs that struggle, as frustrating as that can be sometimes, for me."

That fit with Tony's own estimation.

"Anyway, are you liking it out there? Tim seems to think that you're not really enjoying it."

"Did he say that?" Tony asked in surprise.

Delilah nodded. "Once. He said that he wondered if you really liked being so far away from everyone here and that you didn't seem to like the job as much."

Tony shrugged a little. "It's been a steep learning curve, but my Arabic is really getting good."

Delilah smiled knowingly. "Sometimes, you have to get away in order to know what you really want. That's what I needed. When I went to Dubai, it was a chance to figure my life out without any input from people I already knew. It gave me a chance to get more confidence in my physical ability _and_ to evaluate what I really wanted out of my life. I wouldn't have been able to do that here, not with Tim feeling guilty that I was the one who got hurt, not him...or that he should have been hurt, too."

"Does Tim know that?"

"Not explicitly. He _knows_ , but I couldn't tell him something like that," Delilah said. "He'd take it as an indication of failure, and since I had the time I needed, there's no reason to make it explicit. And Tim didn't protest when I left. He wanted to, but he didn't, and I find that admirable. I don't know if I could have done the same, if our situations were reversed."

"Actually, I expected him to go running after you when you left."

Delilah laughed. "I doubt that he'd ever be _that_ spontaneous."

"I didn't say he'd do it spontaneously. He'd plan it...just really fast."

"You're right. He would."

"Okay. So something that I've been wanting to ask you for more than a year."

"What's that?"

"What did you think when you saw the ring sitting out on the counter?"

Delilah smiled slyly.

"Come on! Tim's not here! My lips are sealed!"

"Your lips are _rarely_ sealed, Tony."

"But they would be this time if you wanted them to be."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because Tim was freaking out about it and he was so disappointed that he couldn't surprise you. I really want to know what you were thinking, especially because I know you guys had been fighting before."

Her smile changed and she nodded.

"Honestly, when I saw it and realized what it was, my first emotion was...I was mad at him, quite frankly. I thought it just figured that Tim would buy a ring and then not ask me. I thought that it was so typical of him to leave it out for me to find rather than just talk to me. But then... Then, I looked at it more closely. I realized that he'd got a ring that would fit me perfectly, that he'd taken into account what I would _need_ in a ring besides what I would want. And I'd already had the email from him where he'd given me the overview of what had happened. It was forcing me to start reconsidering everything I'd thought I knew. I really wanted to be right, but I was seeing that there was more going on than that. I had to accept that Tim was not someone I was going to control, and I shouldn't _want_ to control him. He had enough on his plate. I had to decide if I loved him as he was or if I was only still with him because I felt like I needed to change him into what I thought was right."

"I guess I know what you decided."

"Yeah. And no regrets. It's not easy all the time, but it's worth it, and as my mother said, marriage isn't supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be worth it."

"Sounds like it is."

"Yeah. It's funny because, when Tim and I started dating, I really thought he was easy to read, easy to get. I figured that he was just a typical geek, only with more social skills. I liked him, of course, but I didn't think there was any real mystery. It took some time to realize how much deeper he goes."

"Down the rabbit hole."

"Exactly." Delilah took a deep breath. "Okay. Enough of that. Tim's ears will be burning. I'll show you the spare room. Tim promised me that he washed the sheets and made up the bed."

"I'd better check that he didn't shortsheet the bed."

"I wouldn't worry about that."

"I'm not really. This will be fine."

"Good. I've got to finish up a couple of things before Tim gets back. Feel free to watch TV if you want to."

"Thanks."

Delilah left Tony to his own devices. He set his bag down on a chair and took a breath of relief at not flying for a day. He didn't bother unpacking anything, but he got out what he'd need for the next day or two. Then, he lay down on the bed and stretched out as far as he could, enjoying the feeling of being completely unconfined.

As he lay there, staring up at the ceiling, he thought about how he felt.

And it felt like he'd come home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Tim smiled to himself as he headed back home with dinner. It was nice to have Tony around again, even if it was only for a few days. He was also happy to have some time off even if it made him a little nervous, as if he was abandoning his team by not being there whenever they were. It didn't matter how many times he told himself that it was nothing of the sort. He couldn't avoid it.

Regardless, he wasn't giving up this chance for a fun road trip. He knew that he needed the vacation, and he thought that Tony did as well. Tony had additional stresses that Tim didn't think he could tolerate.

He pulled up and walked inside, laden with food.

"I'm here!"

"About time, Tim," Tony said, coming out of the spare room. "I'm wasting away."

"Really? I never would have guessed that," Tim said.

"Ouch. You've been practicing."

Tim grinned. "No. I just can't say that kind of thing to my subordinates, so I have to save it up and use it on you."

"You're so kind."

"I know."

Tim laughed as he went into the kitchen and laid out dinner. Delilah came in and took her place at the table as Tony sat down.

"Thai, huh? That's more adventurous than I thought you'd be."

"It's a great little place," Delilah said as Tim got the plates, glasses and utensils out. "Tim found it a couple of months ago. We're still trying new dishes."

"So are you experimenting on me?" Tony asked.

Tim handed him a container.

"If you try this one, then, yes. It's called nam tok mu."

Tony feigned deep fear and opened it.

"Well, that doesn't look too frightening."

"Supposedly, it will keep you from getting cancer and will cure a cough," Tim said.

"Really."

"That's what the guy at the restaurant said."

"In that case, I guess I _have_ to try it."

"Yes, you do."

"So what are you two going to do when you get to Alaska?" Delilah asked.

"Go on a road trip," Tony said, grinning.

"I know that, but what are you going to do?"

"Tony doesn't believe in planning a road trip," Tim said. "It has to be as spontaneous as we can let it be while still having jobs. So we know when we're getting back, but we don't really know what we're going to do while we're there."

"We'll be driving a lot," Tony added.

Delilah looked a little exasperated.

"Are you two teenagers or adults?"

"Adults," Tony said. "We wouldn't be able to rent a car, otherwise. Have to be at least 21, and sometimes, 25. So we've got that."

Tim grinned. He knew that Delilah wasn't too happy about the lack of details. He would plan more if it were him, but he was willing to go along with Tony's desire to be completely free to do anything or nothing.

"How will I know where you are, then?" Delilah asked.

"I'll call you while we're gone. We're not going to be camping out anywhere," Tim said. "We'll always be in a hotel. So I can call you or email."

"You'd better."

"I promise."

They passed around the containers, everyone trying every dish and there was still plenty left over. Delilah declared what was left to be _her_ leftovers, since she wasn't going on vacation, and that Tim was not to touch them before he left. Tim just laughed and solemnly promised.

Then, after they'd cleaned up dinner, Tony claimed that he was too tired to stay up late and he disappeared into the spare room. Delilah went into the office to do some last-minute work before bed.

Tim hesitated, but then, he went into the office. (Tony could take care of himself.) He leaned over and put his arms around her from behind.

"Are you upset?" he asked.

"A little. I don't like the idea of you guys driving around up there with absolutely _no_ plan," Delilah said.

"We're not going to be taking risks, Delilah. These trips aren't for us to do stupid things. It's just to...spend time. I think Tony needs it and I _know_ I've needed it, too. Honestly, sometimes, I think the reason Tony likes going on road trips is because it gives him the time to be able to say what he needs to say...because he can't get away. I have a feeling that he's got something else in mind besides just a trip. Every other trip we've taken has been about that."

"And you?"

"Like everyone keeps telling me, I need the break."

Delilah turned around to look at him.

"I'll trust you, but please, even if it's not every night, call me, okay?"

"I will."

"Good."

Delilah reached up and kissed Tim.

"Now, let me get this work done before it keeps me up all night."

Tim smiled and kissed her back.

"See you in bed."

Then, he headed back to the main bedroom, thinking about how much he was looking forward to this trip.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony pulled back quickly after seeing Tim and Delilah kiss, knowing that they'd look back toward the door at some point. Then, he crept back to the spare room. It wasn't that he'd been intending to eavesdrop. He just had, and he liked seeing Tim being concerned and yet not afraid. He wanted his wife to be happy, but he wasn't just rolling over.

All in all, what he was seeing was a great relationship and knowing that Tim had managed to get this after what he'd been a few years ago was nothing short of satisfying. Especially because he knew he'd had a hand in it.

He got back into his room before he was found out and lay down again. Tim's life seemed to be going really well. He was really glad to see it.

That meant they could just enjoy the trip. He rolled over and went to sleep.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim tried to slide out of bed without disturbing Delilah. Their flight left at 5:45, meaning that they needed to be at the airport by about 4 a.m.

However, as soon as he moved, Delilah reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"Don't be. I just wanted to tell you something."

Tim lay back in bed and faced her.

"What?"

"I love you."

He smiled and kissed her.

"And I love you. Thank you for wanting me to do this."

"Just make sure you don't do anything stupid. I have a vested interest in you coming back."

Tim laughed.

"It's just a road trip. We're not going to invade Russia while we're up there."

"I know. Have fun."

"I will."

Tim got up, showered quickly and grabbed his bag. Tony was sitting out in the living room.

"Ready to go?" he asked

"Absolutely," Tim said, nodding.

They took a taxi to the airport, checked in and were off to Fairbanks, Alaska.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

When they got to Fairbanks, the first thing they did was go to pick up their rental. It was kind of pricy to rent a truck for a week, but it was worth it to be able to have their Alaska road trip. They knew that some of the roads could be dicey, even as they were heading into summer. Better safe than sorry. So they had chosen a truck with four-wheel drive and one that wouldn't likely get high-centered on anything. After that, it was off to the hotel where they'd be staying for the next few days. Yes, it was a road trip, but the nature of Alaska was such that they didn't want to depend on finding a different place to stay. Better to do multiple day trips with a base of operations than go out into the back country where they knew they weren't prepared.

Once they got to the hotel, they lugged their stuff into their room.

Tim lay down on one of the beds and stretched to his fullest extent. Then, he relaxed, still spread-eagled on the bed.

"That feels good," he said. "I hate long flights."

Tony sat down.

"You ready for Alaska?"

Tim sat up and smiled.

"I think so. What do you want to do, tomorrow?"

"Drive north."

Tim pulled out the map of Alaska and started looking at it. "How far north?"

"Well, I don't know. Just north. We're going south to Anchorage after we're done up here, so we don't need to look at anything south."

"Okay," Tim said. "There's supposed to be a place where you can see the Trans-Alaska pipeline. That could be cool."

"Is it north?" Tony asked, with a grin.

"Yes, Mr. I-don't-want-to-plan-anything. It's north."

Tony took the map from Tim.

"This Steese Highway seems to go on for a long time."

"Yeah."

Tony started following it with his finger.

"Hey, it even ends! At a place called Circle."

"Circle?"

"Yeah. It looks like there are some gold rush things to see. That settles it. Tomorrow, we're driving the Steese Highway. We'll get up early, go to Circle and come back. That should be a full day. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good to me," Tim said. "Maybe it'll take us up to the Arctic Circle."

"Hey! Yeah!" Tony said. "That would so cool."

"Literally," Tim said.

Tony groaned. "Oh, that was bad, McGee."

"Thank you."

"Really, though." He looked at the map. "We're not _that_ far away from it. It doesn't really look like the Steese Highway goes up there, but there's got to be some way. We can ask people when we get to Circle and maybe around here somewhere, too."

"Sounds good."

"For now...I'm hungry. We need to find someplace to get dinner."

Tim found the typical binder of local restaurants and tourist attractions. He started flipping through it.

"Hey, this one sounds interesting. It's called The Cookie Jar."

"Sounds like a dessert place."

Tim pulled out his tablet and did a search.

"Nope. It's a regular restaurant. Looks like it could be good. And it's a local place. Not a chain."

"Okay. I'm game."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

They headed out and had a good meal. It was nothing spectacular, but it was filling and the place was buzzing with activity which made it fun. It was clearly a popular restaurant. Instead of getting any of the other desserts, they both got cookies since that was, apparently, what had got the place started.

After that, they headed back to the hotel and prepared to make an early night of it, especially given the fact that it was hours later in DC, and even more hours later in Bahrain, _and_ they'd been up at the crack of dawn to catch their plane. All in all, it was a good night to go to bed early.

...but first, Tim decided to call Delilah while Tony showered. Tony didn't rush, figuring that Tim would be talking for a while, but when he came out, he saw Tim lying on the bed, phone to his ear, smiling as he chatted with his wife.

He looked over as Tony walked to his bed and sat up.

"Anyway, tomorrow should be really interesting. I'll be sure to take pictures. Love you."

Then, he hung up.

"How much did you tell her?" Tony asked.

"I didn't mention that the Steese Highway is only paved part of the way. She hears _highway_ and thinks a wide, divided, paved road."

"So you lied?"

"No. I just didn't mention it. If she had asked whether or not the highway was paved, I would have told her the truth. I just didn't volunteer the information. We have a good truck for what we're doing. It's not like we rented a sedan."

Tony grinned.

"Sure, sure. I'll remember that."

Tim rolled his eyes a little. "I'm going to shower."

"Feel free."

Tim grabbed his clothes and went in. When the door was closed, Tony walked over to the window and looked out. Really, while it wasn't huge by any means, Fairbanks was a respectable size and you wouldn't realize how close you were to the wilderness. There was something both bracing and a little intimidating about that. As they had flown toward Alaska, Tony had seen more and more just how _huge_ the state was and how much of it wasn't settled at all. All those maps he'd seen in school had been deceiving about the size of Alaska in comparison to the other states.

This was going to be a very different kind of experience, but Tony was all for something different.

Tim came out a few minutes later and they turned out the lights and went to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Rise and shine!" came a singsong voice.

Tim groaned.

"Come on! The sun has been up for a while already! You're sleeping the day away!"

Tim groaned again.

"You're making a big mistake, McGee."

Then, before he could analyze what that might mean, he felt the impact of a heavy hotel pillow on his head.

He sat up quickly and got the pillow right in his face that time.

"Hey! Knock it off!"

Tony laughed and stopped hitting him with the pillow.

"Lots to do today, McGee. You can't keep lying around doing nothing. That's not what a road trip is all about. Gotta get out on the road."

Tim got up and stretched as he headed for the bathroom.

"Man, you're insufferable. Why did I want to come on a vacation with you, again?"

"Because you love my sparkling personality," Tony said.

"Whatever."

Tim went into the bathroom and worked on waking himself up. He hadn't realize how incredibly _tired_ he was until he could sleep, knowing that he wasn't going to work the next day and that no one's life depended on his for the next little while. That was a nice feeling. He wouldn't trade what he was doing, but there was no doubt that it was a stressful occupation, and he should have taken some time off earlier than he was.

He got ready quickly and then came out. No more pillows came flying at him. They got all their gear and then went down to take advantage of the free breakfast before heading out for the Steese Highway.

The first place they stopped was at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Viewpoint. It was just a parking lot off the road. They parked and got out. Just a few steps brought them to the pipeline.

"Wow. So this is it, huh?" Tony said.

"Yeah."

"It's...smaller than I thought it would be. For some reason, I was thinking it was going to be this huge pipe, but...it's big, but not as big as I expected."

Tim smiled. "Does that mean you don't want to take a picture?"

"Are you kidding? This is totally picture-worthy! Go pose and then, you can take my picture by it."

"Sounds good."

Tim walked over right by the pipeline and raised his hands over his head. Tony took his photo and then they traded places. Tony acted like he was going to climb up the posts to the pipe, although he didn't actually leave the ground.

They took a few more pictures and then piled back into the truck and continued on. This wasn't their usual kind of road trip in that they would be going back to Fairbanks in the evening, but it was fun to stop whenever the mood struck them. They chose to stop at Cleary Summit and take more photos. They even faced south and tried to see Denali (Mt. McKinley). They took pictures in that direction, but the day wasn't really clear enough to discern the distant mountain.

"Hey! What's that over there?" Tony asked when they were back on the road.

"Buildings," Tim said.

"Yeah, I can see that, but what buildings?"

"I don't know, Tony. I've never been here before."

"Then, we're going to go and see them."

"Okay."

They pulled off once more and found themselves in the Chatanika Gold Camp, an old mining camp that had been converted into a museum. There was a lodge, restaurant and gift shop. Some of the buildings from the original camp as it had been built in 1925 were still standing. But the most interesting place was the derelict Dredge #3. It was a fascinating structure, still sitting in the water where it had been left more than 50 years ago.

"Man, I wish there was some way to go and get on it," Tony said.

"Let's not. That thing doesn't look very stable. I'd rather just take pictures."

"Killjoy."

"No. The killjoy would be when you ended our vacation early because you fell through rusted metal and drowned," Tim said.

"Yeah, yeah. I wasn't really serious anyway. Now, go and pose."

Tim did as instructed. After that they walked back to the lodge and went inside just to look around. There were only a few patrons there. The place was small and this probably wasn't the height of tourist season as yet.

"Hey, Tony! Come and look at this!"

Tony walked over to where Tim was pointing at...

"An outhouse?"

Tim grinned. "Wouldn't it be an _in_ house? It's inside, after all."

"Oh, Tim, that's terrible," Tony groaned. "But what _is_ this?"

"Chatanika Lodge Old Faithful," Tim read aloud.

"Part of the Chatanika Days Outhouse Race."

The unexpected voice caused both of them to turn around. An older man was grinning at them.

"Outhouse race?" Tim repeated.

"Yes, and it's exactly what it sounds like. Five-man teams. Four push and one rides the outhouse over a mile-long course."

"Where in the world did that come from?" Tony asked.

"It's tradition! ...but I don't know, other than that. Happens every year in March. They put skis on the bottom and push."

"Too bad we missed it," Tim said. "I can only imagine what that must look like."

The man grinned.

"You don't have to imagine it. You can see it on YouTube. Just look for the outhouse race. I can almost guarantee you won't find anything else like it."

Tim made a mental note to look it up when they got back to the hotel.

"I'll have to do that. Could you take our picture here?"

"Absolutely."

Tony and Tim stood on either side of the outhouse while the man snapped a photo. Then, it was back out to the truck and on their way once more.

They didn't stop much for the next hour or so. They weren't in a rush. For a while, it was even silent in the truck as they drove, both men content to look at the scenery of Alaska in late spring. It was almost strange that they were both so comfortable that the silence didn't bother them.

Of course, it wasn't completely silent. The pavement had ended and the gravel kept it from being really quiet. Still, they enjoyed the time. Unlike their previous road trips, this one was more introspective and less frenetic, and it showed in how they proceeded.

When they reached the highest point of the drive, Eagle Summit, Tony pulled over and they got out.

They took some pictures and then, they both stood in silence. Tim wasn't sure what Tony was thinking, but he felt something inside him that he couldn't even articulate.

"It's beautiful," he said, softly.

"Are you allowed to say that?" Tony asked. "That was way too..."

"Too what?" Tim asked.

"I don't know, but can you say it?"

"I think so," Tim said, smiling, but not looking away from the view. "It's not as green as it might be a little later in the year, but it's amazing. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. The closest was Yellowstone, but even that's a different kind of wild than this. It's really amazing."

"Going to move out here?"

"No. I don't want to live here, but visit... yeah. I'd come here again."

There was a long silence. Then, Tim took a deep breath of the Alaska air and turned to Tony.

"Ready to keep going?"

Tony nodded.

They got back in the car and continued on their way. They would stop as the mood took them, but overall, they didn't really make a stop until they got to the small community of Central.

"Well?" Tony said.

"Not very big, is it," Tim said.

"Hey, look!" Tony said, pointing ahead of them. "A museum!"

"Cool! It doesn't look open, though," Tim said. "There's no cars there."

"Well, let's try it, anyway."

"I'm game."

They drove to the building and parked. It seemed deserted.

"It opens after Memorial Day," Tim said, reading a sign. "We've missed it by a week."

"That figures," Tony said. "Oh, well. Let's take some pictures. We still have to get to Circle, anyway."

They walked around a little, taking photos and then it was back in the truck and more driving along the Steese Highway.

Finally, they reached Circle. It couldn't really be called a city. It was too small for that, but it was _something_ , and what it was, was the end of the line. The Steese Highway ended here. In fact, there was even a sign.

"The end of the road," Tony read. "Perfect! You pose first. Then, me."

Tim walked over to the sign and posed. Then, they switched places. As they were headed back to the truck, someone else pulled over to the sign. A man rolled down his window and leaned out.

"You want to get a picture with both of you?" he asked.

"Sure!" Tony said. "That would be great!"

The man turned off his truck and walked over. He took the camera and snapped a few photos of the two of them on either side of the sign.

"Where you boys from?" he asked as he handed the camera back.

"D.C.," Tony said. "I'm Tony. This is Tim. It's our nearly annual road trip."

"Nearly?"

"Haven't always made it. Work and Tim got married not too long ago."

The man grinned. "And you're traveling with this guy instead of your wife?"

"She gets Christmas and New Year's," Tim said, smiling back.

"I'm Abe. She okay with that tradeoff?"

"If she wasn't, I wouldn't be here."

"Good answer."

"Are you from around here?" Tony asked.

"Yep."

"So...why is it called Circle?" Tim asked. "Are we on the Arctic Circle here?"

"Nope," Abe said, still smiling. "Lotta people think that, and that's why it's named what it is, but the Arctic Circle is about 50 miles further north."

"Oh," Tony said. "That's...disappointing."

"Is there any way we can get up there?"

"Not from here," Abe said, "but you can on the Dalton Highway, but you better be prepared for that road."

"What do you mean?" Tim asked.

"It's rough. Real rough. The road goes all the way up to the oil fields on the north coast of Alaska. It's mainly for the oil trucks, and they don't need the frills that wimpy cars do. It's almost all gravel. It's rutted. Real rutted, and you won't make much above 45 mph. And the trucks have right of way. Always. You see one coming, you get out of its way. Besides all that, this is Alaska. Especially at this time of year, the weather can change like that." He snapped his fingers. "If you go, make sure you have emergency gear with you, and an extra tank of gas might not go amiss."

"No gas stations?"

"Three between Fairbanks and the end of the road. That's not very many, especially spread out over more than 400 miles. You'll cover about half that to get to the Arctic Circle. No cell service, either."

Tim wasn't sure about that kind of trip. It sounded a lot more dangerous than the one they'd been on today.

"Still, it looks like you've got a good truck for it, and if you're not stupid and be careful, it's worth seeing once. There's even a little spot to stop and take pictures right at the Arctic Circle. Beautiful country up that way, too."

"Thanks!" Tony said.

Tim could tell that Tony wasn't at all put off by the risks. Abe continued to chat a little longer.

"While you're here, you should take some time at the Yukon River. You can see it just back there, but it's worth looking at. You made it to the end of the road, might as well see what there is to see before you head back."

"We definitely will do that. Anything else to see here?"

"Well, not a whole lot. If you're not camping or watching the Northern Lights, it's a pretty small area. A lot of people put in or take out here, but you don't look like you're rafting."

"Nope."

"Didn't think so."

"Beautiful, though," Tim said.

"It is that. I never regretted moving here."

They parted ways, and Tony and Tim drove to get a better view of the Yukon River. It was a large river, and here, by Circle, it had separated into large tributaries that wouldn't come back together for hundreds of miles. All in all, what they could see was amazing and they took a lot of pictures before refueling and heading back toward Fairbanks. Tony had done most of the driving on the way there, so Tim was driving on the way back.

It was quiet at first, but then, Tony wasn't distracted by the view as much as Tim had been.

"You're not sure about going to the Arctic Circle, are you," he said.

"I don't know, Tony. That sounds like a lot more risk than we usually take on these things. I don't want us getting into trouble we can't get out of."

"I don't, either," Tony said, "but it's the Arctic Circle! I'm not suggesting that we drive all the way up to the northern tip of Alaska."

"Only because you know we don't have the time," Tim said.

Tony grinned. "Well, yeah, but I'm not going to suggest that we go any further than the Arctic Circle. We'll do what he said. Extra gas, emergency gear. We'll be ready for whatever might happen."

"You really want to go up there, don't you," Tim said.

"Yeah. I do."

Tim thought about it for a few seconds. It wasn't that _he_ didn't want to go. It was just that he was a little nervous about the road being as bad as Abe had seemed to imply it was.

"If we damage this truck, we'll have a huge fine to pay," he said.

"I'll pay it," Tony said, instantly.

"I'll want that in writing."

"Aw, don't you trust me?" he asked.

Tim smiled a little. "Not about money."

"I'm hurt!"

"I think you'll get over it."

"I will if you agree to go up to the Arctic Circle, tomorrow."

Tim took a breath and thought about it.

"Okay. Let's do it."

"Excellent! Now, don't get us in an accident driving back to Fairbanks."

"Ha ha. Very funny."

The one nice thing was that there was only one road. No risk of getting lost. With the slow, bumpy road, it took them nearly five hours to drive back. Tim was a much more conservative and cautious driver than Tony. Still, they got back to Fairbanks without any problems. They filled up the truck and then got some supplies for the next day. Tim insisted that they be prepared with food and water. When they told the checker at the grocery store what their plan was, she recommended that they also get an air pump for the tires, just in case. The truck itself came with a spare, but it was always better to be prepared, she said. Tim agreed and bought a small hand pump, although Tony thought it was overkill. Then, with a quick stop to get dinner, they headed back to the hotel.

Tim was relieved to get back with no problems. He lay down on the bed and enjoyed the feeling of no bumps and no movement.

"Well?" Tony asked.

"It was fun," Tim said. "I really liked it."

"Good. Tomorrow will be even better."

"Even bumpier, I'm sure. I guess it'll be an experience."

"That's what it's all about," Tony said. "I get the shower first!"

Tim just gestured and lay back on the bed. He debated whether or not he'd tell Delilah about tomorrow. Actually, maybe he'd just drop her a quick email or something. He didn't want her to worry, and she would. Particularly when just the road could be dangerous, let alone the fact that they'd be completely out of contact.

Well, tomorrow would come soon enough and it was time to sleep and get ready for it. While they hadn't done anything really strenuous, bumpy roads were tiring.

Tony showered and then Tim showered, and they went to sleep quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Tim woke up before Tony the next morning. He was still a little nervous about this drive. He was trying not to show it since Tony was so excited at the prospect, but if it were just up to him, once he had heard how bad the road could be, he would have changed his plans and gone somewhere else.

 _If it were just me, I wouldn't be doing any of this,_ Tim thought to himself with a smile.

That was one thing that was good about these road trips. They did get Tim out of his comfort zone and have him trying things he wouldn't have before.

But still... He'd promised Delilah that he wouldn't take any unnecessary risks. She had been adamant that he not do anything stupid because she really needed him right now. He also recognized that he had extra responsibilities. It wasn't just him anymore. It was him and Delilah together.

Then, he shook his head. No. This little day trip wasn't as big a deal as he was turning it into. There was an overlook. Clearly, people did this often enough without dying. The road might be a bit iffy for a small car or a muscle car, but the truck they'd rented would be the right kind of wheels for it. Tony wasn't a stupid driver and neither was Tim. They'd be okay. And it would be a new experience.

By the time Tony woke up, Tim had pretty much convinced himself that everything would be okay. They had breakfast, loaded up the truck and started out on their way.

"Well?" Tony asked, only a few minutes into the trip.

"Well what?" Tim asked in return.

"How is it, so far?"

Tim laughed. "Tony, you've been driving for maybe ten minutes. We're not even _to_ the Dalton Highway yet. I can't comment on what it's like before we even get there. We have at least ten hours of driving today. Please don't tell me you're going to ask how I'm doing every five minutes."

Tony laughed in reply. "Just seeing if you were having second thoughts."

"Yes," Tim said, honestly, "but not enough that I want to turn back."

"We could."

"No. You want to do this, and so do I. I'm just a little nervous. You're lucky that the rental company is allowing us to travel on the Dalton Highway. Some of them don't."

"How _un_ lucky for you," Tony said, grinning.

"Ha ha."

They kept driving until they got to the sign marking the beginning of the Dalton Highway. Tony insisted that they get out and take a picture. The sign was covered with stickers from various places, and Tony was disappointed that they couldn't add a sticker of their own, but neither of them had thought of doing that.

So it was back into the car and taking the long drive up to the Arctic Circle.

The road was awful. Huge potholes were all over the road. Some parts were paved, but those stretches of paved road weren't really much better than the gravel parts.

"Look! There's still snow!" Tim said, pointing out ahead of them.

Sure enough, there were large swaths of snow all around. In fact, Tony pulled off to the side, making sure they weren't going to be in anyone's way, and they slipped and slid over to some of the snow.

"Make a snow angel, Tim!" Tony said.

Tim knelt down, but then laughed.

"No snow angels here, unless you plan on chiseling the snow loose. This is hard."

"Aw, shucks," Tony said. "Fine. Do something exciting, then."

Tim figured that Tony should have reconsidered the wisdom of saying that, but since he didn't, Tim gouged his hands into the snow and loosened it up enough to grab a handful...

...and then threw it in Tony's face right as he was taking a picture.

"Oh, you're dead, McGee," Tony said.

The snow didn't pack well, but that didn't stop them from acting like children and throwing snow at each other. It lasted for only a couple of minutes and then they were scrambling back to the truck and continuing on their way.

There was a definite bumpiness to the road that kept them from even _wanting_ to go very fast.

"I think that if you went any faster, my teeth would bounce right out of my mouth," Tim said.

"I know. It's crazy how rough this road is. I guess you wouldn't notice it in a semi."

"Guess not. I can't imagine _my_ car managing this."

"Or mine."

Every so often, they saw wildlife and they stopped the car just to watch and take a few pictures. There was a sign that told them they still had 60 miles to go until they reached the Arctic Circle, but that just made them more excited. Then, they came around a turn.

"Hey! Look at that! It's the Yukon River again," Tony said, as they dropped down toward it.

"Wow. It's not quite as wide as it was over by Circle, but it's still impressive. And there's the pipeline, again, too!"

Sure enough, the Alaska pipeline emerged from the trees and crossed the river, coming out on the other side. They paused at the start of the bridge and took pictures. Then, they drove over to the other side, stopped and took more pictures. Then, they continued on their way. Twice, they had to move over for one of the big rigs. Once, Tim thought for sure a huge rock was going to hit the windshield (it just barely missed them). In between, there was almost no one on the road. It was early enough in the season to be pretty cold still. It was also just not peak tourist season yet.

"Okay, we need to do something to pass the time," Tony declared.

"Like what?" Tim asked. "We're in the car, driving."

"Think of something, o wise one."

Tim thought about it for a few seconds and then he smiled.

"We could sing camp songs."

"Camp songs? Like what?"

"Um... Oh, this is perfect. You just have to repeat everything I sing and then, at the end of each verse, we re-sing the verse."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"It's camp songs. For little kids, Tony. The only thing is that you _have_ to sing what I sing. I'm not giving you a solo performance."

Tony's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Just what are you going to have me sing, McGee?"

"It's suitable for kids. I learned things with the Scouts."

"Oh, okay. Take it away, Pavarotti."

"Okay." Tim was a little embarrassed by his suggestion, but they were silly and it could be fun. He took a breath and started to sing the first verse.

"The other day..."

He waited.

Nothing.

"Tony, you're supposed to repeat the phrase!"

"Oh. That was it? I thought it would be longer."

"Remember. This is for kids."

"Okay, okay. Start again. I'll keep up."

"You'd better." Another breath. "The other day..."

"The other day."

"I saw a bear."

"I saw a bear."

"A great big bear."

"A great big bear."

"A grizzly bear."

"A grizzly bear."

"Now, we sing it all together."

Together, they repeated the verse.

"The other day, I saw a bear. A great big bear, a grizzly bear."

"Perfect," Tim said. "Ready to keep going?"

"How many verses are there?"

Tim thought about it. "I don't know. As many as it takes to finish the song." He grinned.

Tony laughed. "Okay. Go on."

"He looked at me."

"He looked at me."

"I looked at him."

"I looked at him."

"He sized me up."

"He sized me up."

"I sized up him."

"I sized up him."

Together. "He looked at me. I looked at him. He sized me up. I sized up him."

The song continued with Tim as the lead and Tony the backup, as the narrator of the song described talking to the bear and running away from the bear. There were nine verses, all together. Finally, they got to the last one.

"The moral of..."

"The moral of..."

"This story is..."

"This story is..."

"Don't talk to bears..."

"Don't talk to bears..."

"In tennis shoes."

"In tennis shoes?" Tony asked, still singing but giving Tim a look.

Tim just shrugged and they sang the final verse together.

"The moral of this story is don't talk to bears in tennis shoes."

"That's the end," Tim said.

"Are you sure?"

"I guess we could make up _more_ verses."

"No, that's okay. I've never heard that before."

"Camp song."

"Got any others?"

"Are you sure you want to risk it?" Tim asked.

"I think I can handle it."

"It's repetitious."

"And that one wasn't?"

"Not compared to this."

"All right. Give it to me."

Tim couldn't keep from smiling as he started the song.

"Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log. Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log. Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log. Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log."

Tony started laughing.

"Really? That's a song?"

"Yes. And then, at the end of every verse, you pick a different style to sing it in."

"Like what?"

"You go, 'hey one, hey two, hey three, hey four! Let's sing that cowboy song once more.' And then, you sing it cowboy style."

"How long does this go on?"

"Until you want to stop."

"So it's like the Lambchop song."

Tim chuckled. "No. There's a definite end. You just can keep repeating if you _want_ to."

"You camping people are weird."

"I'm not really a camping person. I was _with_ camping people."

"Right."

"You want to do it?"

"Sure."

They started to sing the song. Over and over. They sang it cowboy style, softly, loudly, backwards, opera, rap, nasal and a few others before Tony declared that they were done. They saw a nice overlook, so they stopped and took more pictures, enjoyed the time not bumping down the road and then got going again.

"Any others?" Tony asked.

"Do you know the famous doctor?"

"Which one?"

"No. That's the song. You do different instruments."

"Lay it on me."

"Who's the famous doctor  
Comes from Germany  
Hugo Gillespie  
Hear his piano.  
Plink-a-plink-a-plink-a-plink  
Plink-a-plink  
Plink-a-plink  
Plink-a-plink-a-plink-a-plink  
Plink-a-plink-a-plink, hey!"

"That's not how a piano sounds."

"Best we can do with our voices."

"What other instruments are there?"

"We always did the piano, the viola, the flute, the bagpipes, although you might have a hard time doing the bagpipes since it requires plugging your nose and hitting your throat."

"Of course. How else would you do bagpipes?" Tony said, grinning.

They sang the song, but Tim took a solo on the bagpipes, and they also did drums and Tony added in the tuba.

On and on until they finally saw the sign, indicating that the Arctic Circle was coming up.

"There it is!" Tim said, pointing.

"Finally. I don't know if I could take any more camp songs," Tony said.

"I don't know if I know any more."

Tony turned off the highway and drove up a road which led to the marker.

"Here we are," Tim said as the truck finally came to a stop. He stifled a sigh of relief at escaping the bumping, even just temporarily.

They both got out and walked to the sign.

"It's so quiet," Tony said. "I think that's one thing I couldn't get used to. It's just too quiet."

"I like it," Tim said. "But I wouldn't want to live out here."

"Yeah. No one wants to live out here. It's May and it's still cold."

"But it's also so remote. Can you imagine what would happen if you lived out here and needed help?"

"Yeah. You'd better hope you didn't. Well, pose by the sign and then you can take a picture of me."

Tim nodded and posed by the Arctic Circle sign. Then, he changed places and let Tony do the same. Then, by mutual consent, they both walked around to the overlook.

Wide open spaces. It was just amazing.

"Glad we came up here?" Tony asked, after a few silent minutes.

"Yeah, I am," Tim said. "But I am _not_ looking forward to the drive back."

"Well, we can't avoid that. Can't stay here."

"Yeah."

They turned to walk back to the truck and then, Tim looked at their rental.

"This thing is a _mess_ ," he said.

"No kidding," Tony agreed.

It did look pretty sad. There was mud covering much of it, and Tim thought he could see a few dings in the paint.

"There's no way that we won't get fined for this."

"We'll wash it before we give it back."

"Great. Then, they'll be able to see _all_ dings. Remember that you're paying for it."

"I remember, I remember. Do _you_ remember that you get to drive on the way back?"

"Yes. Unfortunately."

"Well, let's eat some lunch here. No reason to rush."

"We do have another five hours to drive back," Tim said. "It took us nearly eight to get up here with all the stops and stuff."

"Yeah, but it's only five hours, not ten. We won't be stopping much, and it's not like we're going to be here for hours, just eating for a few minutes."

"True. Besides, giving my butt a break from the vibration is all the better, in my opinion."

"That's the spirit! Let's break out those sandwiches."

Tim nodded and they grabbed some of the food they'd packed for the drive. They found a place to sit and they ate their lunch, enjoying the beautiful landscape. It wasn't fully green yet, but it was beautiful and wild. There weren't too many places in the world that were fully wild, but once someone got off the road here, it wasn't very far before the land was completely undeveloped.

They sat, not really talking much, not even taking pictures. Just eating and looking out at Alaska.

After about half an hour, Tony leaned back and stretched.

"Well, ready to get going?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. Pack out your trash."

"Yeah, take only pictures, leave only footprints."

Tim grinned. "Give a hoot."

"Any other mottos you can think of?" Tony asked.

"Nope. I'm out."

"All right. You're still driving back."

Tim sighed. "I know."

They gathered up their stuff and got back into the car.

It was a long drive.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"It suddenly seems a lot darker than it was," Tim said. "Where did all those clouds come from?"

"I don't know. It wasn't cloudy when we started back," Tony said. He leaned forward to look at the sky around them. It was _really_ dark. Dark and threatening.

Before they knew it, it had started to rain. This wasn't just a light sprinkle, either. It was a heavy, soaking rain.

"This is bad. I can barely see two feet in front of me, Tony," Tim said. "Should we stop and wait for it to end?"

"I don't know. If it rains too long, that means we'll be driving back in the dark. Which do you want to do? Drive in the rain or drive in the dark?"

Tony could see that Tim wasn't sure, but he slowed down dramatically instead of stopping. They had only been going about 40 miles per hour, but now, they were crawling at about 25. Tony didn't blame Tim. This was awful.

"It's probably another twenty or thirty miles to the Yukon River. There was a place to stop there. Think we can make it? I'd rather stop where there's a real pull-off than just hope we're off far enough in this mess."

"I'm game to try," Tim said. "Just don't plan on me going very fast."

"I won't. In fact, please, don't."

Tim's grip on the wheel became white-knuckled. They went up a hill and down toward the flats. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, there were blinding headlights in their faces and they hit a huge pothole at the same time. Water splashed up completely covering the windshield and the semi flew past them, absolutely showering them with rocks in addition to the water. Tony couldn't see a thing, but he felt Tim push hard on the brakes. Unfortunately, the truck didn't stop. It started to fishtail and then spin and slide.

The truck hydroplaned and Tony wondered when they had started driving in a river instead of on the road.

In a moment that seemed to take forever and yet happened all at once, the truck began to tip as it went off the road and down.

Tim tried to drive forward, but all that happened was that they slid further off the road and tilted more. And then, the truck passed the point of no return and Tony felt his world tip and he was flung violently to the side, stopped only by his seatbelt. The windshield shattered and the driver's side window cracked.

The truck was off the road, on its side, tilted toward a full rollover, and rain was pouring in on them.

For a long moment, there was nothing but the sound of the rain and wind. Tony was hanging in his seatbelt, trapping in a never-ending free fall toward Tim who was lying with his face in the mud and glass. He wasn't moving, but his hands were still on the wheel.

"Tim?"

He could hear Tim breathing heavily, but he wasn't moving.

"Tim, can you hear me?"

No response.

"Tim? You okay?"

Still nothing.

Tony reached down and grabbed Tim's arm. It was completely stiff.

"Tim, come on, man. Talk to me."

There was nothing.

"Tim, we're okay." Then, he had a thought. "There's no bus, not this time."

To his relief, Tim finally moved. He opened his eyes and looked up at Tony. He smiled weakly.

"I hear you. I'm okay. I'm okay."

"Good."

"I'm in the mud."

"Only part of you. The rest of you is still in the truck."

"That... d-doesn't make me feel any better."

Tim still sounded a little freaked out, but at least he was responding. He didn't move for a few seconds. Then, he took a deep breath and let go of the steering wheel. His hands were shaking, but he managed turn the key and turn off the truck. Then, he let his head fall back down to the mud and his eyes closed again.

Tony reached down and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's all right, Tim. We're just fine."

There was a long, shuddering breath, but then, a slight chuckle.

"Speak for yourself," Tim said, shakily. "I am _not_ fine, and the truck _definitely_ isn't fine."

"But we're both alive. That's important."

Tony gave Tim a gentle thump on the shoulder and opened up the jockey box, searching for a flashlight. He couldn't find one, but then, he remembered his phone. They wouldn't be able to call, but he could use the flashlight function. It would drain the battery pretty quick, but he didn't think he'd need to have it on all the time. Just for now. He pulled it out and pointed it out toward the road. All he could see was water. He couldn't even _see_ the road.

"I don't know if we should get out of the truck right now, Tony," Tim said softly. He was barely audible over the rain pounding on the roof. "We don't know how deep that water might be or how fast it's flowing."

"We can't stay in here, not with the truck on its side, you down there in the mud and the rain pouring in, along with a river. You'd probably drown, eventually. And the truck might decide to finish the roll and we'd end up on our heads instead. We have to get out and get some shelter until the rain stops. Can you take off your seatbelt?"

Tim nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay. I need to get mine off, too. Let me get around so that I don't just fall on you. Then, we'll get out of the truck."

Tim nodded, but he was definitely shaky. Tony quickly got himself maneuvered around so that he could get out of the truck. Then, he removed his seatbelt and pushed open the truck door. Unfortunately, it fell right back down and closed again. There was too much wind and rain. However, Tony was extremely conscious of the fact that Tim couldn't get up until he was out of the way and he didn't want to delay that very much. He didn't like seeing Tim down there, freaked out, but trapped with water pouring into the truck. Right now, it was all draining out through the broken window, but that probably wouldn't last forever. He looked around for something to wedge the door open but he just wasn't really seeing anything. He considered breaking out the passenger window, and then, he rolled his eyes at himself.

The windshield was completely shattered. He could climb out that way. Duh.

"Okay, Tim. I'm going to get out and find my footing and then you can follow. Okay?"

"Sure. Okay."

Tony carefully got out of the truck and took his first step into the water.

"Yikes! That's _freezing_!" he said.

Thankfully, it wasn't too deep, but there was mud, too. This was a terrible place to get stuck. He shone his phone around, looking for shelter and not seeing much. There were some trees, but they were pretty scrubby.

"Okay, Tim. Your turn."

For a moment, he thought Tim wouldn't be able to get himself together enough to get out, but then, he took off his seatbelt and started to stand. Tony turned his phone back toward Tim so that he could see a little better. Then, Tim paused.

"What, Tim?" Tony asked.

Without answering, Tim turned around and started fishing around in the back seat. Tony realized what he was doing. Tim was trying to get the emergency gear they'd brought along. The air pump and the spares wouldn't do them any good with the truck on its side and all, but the food would, and so would the ponchos and the blankets (even if they were wet) and the first aid kit. Neither of them seemed injured, but Tim did have some cuts on his face. Maybe there was a heat blanket in there, too.

"Good thinking, Tim," Tony said, as Tim handed the gear out.

"I'm lucky I'm doing _any_ thinking at all," Tim said, still shaking a little. "Good or otherwise."

"You're doing fine."

Tim joined Tony outside the truck.

"Now, what?" he asked. "I don't really see any good place to take shelter."

"Well, we can't just stand here, especially with the truck leaning on its side like this. It's as likely to finish rolling over as anything," Tony said. "We're standing in mud and water up to our ankles and that's not a situation I'd like to stay in."

Tim held Tony's arm as they started to walk toward the trees, hoping that they'd find even some scant protection from the storm there. It was their best bet when it was dark, cold, rainy and probably not the safest situation on the road.

Thankfully, the trees _were_ up a bit higher than the land around them and that meant that the water hadn't soaked the ground completely. It wasn't great, but it was better than being in the truck and definitely better than being directly in the rain.

Without speaking, they began to share out the supplies. First, the ponchos. Then, Tony handed Tim a relatively dry sweater. Tim switched his soaked, muddy shirt for the sweater while Tony did the same, although he wasn't _quite_ as wet. Then, they each took a thermal blanket to use if it got colder, and a regular blanket. Then, Tony handed Tim a granola bar and a water bottle. Tim took it, but his hands were still shaking a little.

"I almost got us killed," Tim said, staring at the truck.

"No, you didn't."

"Where did that semi even come from? I didn't see it until it was right on us! I pushed on the brakes, but... I don't know."

"It was a pothole. We're in an Alaskan spring storm. We'll be fine."

"We're stuck on a highway where there's no cell service and we didn't see a single soul while we were driving out here besides that truck going the opposite way who probably didn't even notice us. I'll bet there won't be any more semis coming through during the night with all this rain. We're stuck here, and I'm not even sure where _here_ is."

"Hey! Snap out of it, Tim," Tony said. "We slid off the road, and we're stuck for the moment, but the storm can't last forever. The sun will come up in the morning. We'll be fine!"

"We don't have much shelter. We're wet. It's cold."

Tim suddenly sat down on the ground, dropping his head into his hands.

"Delilah's going to kill me...if Alaska doesn't, first."

"What? Why?"

"I promised her that I wouldn't do anything dangerous," Tim said.

Tony shone the flashlight toward Tim, but not directly in his face. He looked genuinely concerned that they wouldn't get out of this. Tony didn't get it. While it _was_ pretty serious, they were both mostly unharmed, and it wasn't the middle of winter. It was spring, headed toward summer.

"This wasn't dangerous. We're not going to die out here, Tim. Calm down."

Tony knelt down beside Tim and shook him a little.

"Snap out of it! I don't need you having a meltdown, right now. I get that you're freaked out since you were the one driving, but it's not as bad as you're making it out to be."

Tim looked up at him and did seem a little embarrassed by how he was acting.

"It's... It's not just that. It's..." Tim sighed and ran his hands over his head.

"What is it, then?" he asked. "This really isn't like you."

Tim looked at him again and let out his breath all in a whoosh. "Delilah's pregnant."

Tony was so surprised at the revelation that he actually dropped his phone. He fumbled for it and picked it back up before it could get soaked.

"Wait a minute. What? Delilah is..."

"Pregnant. We just got the news a couple of weeks ago. We weren't even sure it would be possible with her being paralyzed and everything. We didn't even really _talk_ about it before. It just wasn't something we thought would happen, especially since we weren't trying for it or anything. ...but when it happened... We had to ask the doctor about five times. Delilah wasn't sure about it. I wasn't sure about it, either, but I was really excited. Excited and scared and... and it's what I've always wanted, you know? Wife, kids, and all that. Delilah wasn't as excited. She was more scared, and she said that if she was going to go through it, I had to be there with her through it all because she couldn't manage something like this without me. I told her I would. No matter what." Tim took a breath. "It's like the biggest thing in my life since I married her...and I know it's stupid, but I just can't help thinking that with all this...there's a chance that..."

"That you won't make it back."

Tim nodded and dropped his head into his hands again.

In a way, Tony figured he shouldn't have been surprised by that. Tim still had those moments of feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. In this case, some of the weight was real. It explained a lot about why Tim had been so different on this trip. He had been looking at everything in a different way, more contemplative than he had been on their other road trips. This must be why. He was going to be a father and it was affecting his view of the world.

"Stupid, I know," Tim said, his voice muffled. "I know you're right about all this. I'm just being stupid."

"It's not stupid. It's no more stupid now than it was years ago."

Tim looked over at him with a little bit of surprise and then a rueful smile.

"Some things never change, I guess."

"Actually, they do. A few years ago, you would have been more than a little freaked out."

"I was already more than a little freaked out."

"Not like with Dearing."

"True."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Tony asked.

"We haven't told anyone at all, except Delilah's parents and my parents. Who knows how this will all turn out? Something could still go wrong. We're not sure of the complications that could come from it. We weren't going to tell anyone until she couldn't hide it anymore. She's only a couple of months along right now."

"When is the baby due?"

"Around Christmas."

"Oh."

Then, it pinged in his brain.

"When you said you had asked for that off to be with Delilah."

"Yeah."

"I was just thinking that you were wanting to spend time with her."

"I am. There's just more than one reason for it."

"Devious, McGee."

Tim actually smiled a little. "That's me."

"If you were so worried about it, we didn't have to do this, you know. You could have said something."

Tim shook his head. "No. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to react like an idiot if something happened. I didn't really think anything _would_ happen. We were going on a road trip, not a vacation in the back country, and I really was looking forward to having you come to visit. It was just a moment when I wanted more than one thing at a time and I couldn't decide which. Actually, Delilah decided for me. She said that I should do this." He looked up again. "I love her, Tony. So much. After all the ups and downs we've gone through, all the times when I thought we might fall apart, we're married and I love her. There's a little more risk in this for her. It'll be harder for her, even afterwards. I can't leave her alone in it. I have everything I ever wanted, and I'm afraid of losing it."

Tony leaned over and grabbed Tim's shoulder and squeezed it.

"You're not going to. If I have to, I'll carry you down the highway and get you home. You'll be there."

"I almost believe that you mean it."

"I do," Tony said, feeling strangely intense about reassuring Tim. "You don't have a thing to worry about because we _are_ getting out of this. No worries. All we have to do is get through the night. In the morning, we'll see someone and they'll give us a ride back. The worst we have is the fact that the truck is probably totaled. We'll have to pay for that."

"We have insurance," Tim said, staring at the truck again. "I don't even know how that happened. I was barely going 25 miles an hour! And that semi was on top of us. I don't think I swerved. I thought I just hit the brakes, but nothing happened and before I knew it, we were falling. For just a second..."

"What?"

"It was like I was sixteen again, seeing the bus coming at me and not being able to do anything to stop it."

Tony scooted over closer to Tim and put an arm around Tim's shoulders. With them both in ponchos, it was a very noisy move, but that didn't matter.

"I didn't see what you did, either, but I'll bet you didn't swerve. Maybe you slipped off the brakes and onto the gas. Maybe the brakes actually went out. Maybe it's just that there was so much mud and water and that pothole that the truck couldn't deal with it. We can't know that, right now. Just relax and be glad that we're both alive and not really hurt."

"I feel like I'm bruised from head to toe," Tim said.

"Me, too, but I'm alive to feel it, and I'm thrilled about that."

"I'm thrilled to be alive, but not thrilled to feel it."

Tony laughed. "Always having to be technical about things."

"That's me." Tim looked at the truck again. "You think we should try to walk?"

"Twenty miles? In a rain storm? In the dark? On a road we don't know when there could be trucks barreling down at us at any given moment? I don't think so. We're better off waiting until morning. We're heading toward the longest day of the year. The night can't be _that_ long."

"No, but it isn't really late yet, and we could be here for twelve hours before we see anyone."

"We can make it," Tony said, trying to sound bracing. He didn't want Tim to start freaking out again.

"As long as we don't drown."

"No being a stick in the mud."

"Bad choice of words," Tim said, pointing out at the mud and water all around them.

"I'll agree with you, there. I'm going to turn off my phone. Don't want to completely drain the battery."

"Okay. The light's not really helping anyway."

The light went off, leaving them in a much darker condition. They sat in silence for a while as the rain poured down. Tim shivered a little and scooted closer to Tony.

"Aw, Tim. Why didn't you tell me how you felt before?" Tony said.

Tim laughed.

"Don't get any ideas," he said. "I'm cold. I'm sure you are, too. We'll keep each other warm until the storm is over."

Tony made a show of leaning on Tim until Tim pushed him away.

"Fine. I'd rather be cold," Tim said.

"Just kidding."

Tony moved back and just sat close to Tim.

"We can watch for a car or another semi. There's the flares. So we can use one if we see someone coming. Then, they'll see us."

"Sounds good."

"Good."

They sat side by side and watched the rain fall.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Tony, are you happy?"

"Huh?" Tony asked.

They'd been sitting under the tree for a few hours. Both of them had used the thermal blankets. There just wasn't much to do. The rain seemed to be letting up, but the clouds were still heavy and dark.

"Are you happy? You said that you were leaving because it was what you needed to do and that you'd have fun figuring things out, but you don't really seem all that happy with where you are."

"Stuck in the rain in Alaska, under a tree, in the mud? Nope. Not happy with being here," Tony said.

"Come on. I'm serious, Tony."

"I know. You're always serious about these things," Tony said.

"Well?"

"Not really," Tony said. "It's been a good experience, but I don't want to stay out there. It's just a little _too_ foreign."

"So how much longer are you going to stay there? And where to next?"

"Where to next, I don't know." Then, Tony hesitated.

"What? You didn't answer the first one."

"I don't know the answer to that, either, but... I have a meeting with Vance."

"You do? When?"

"Before I fly back to Bahrain."

"What were you going to do?" Tim asked, incredulously. "Have me drop you off at the airport and then sneak back to NCIS?"

"No. I would have told you...since I would need to ask you for a ride."

Tim laughed a little. "But why didn't you tell me before? Why the secrecy? I mean, when you were thinking about leaving DC, you kept it a secret, but there was a good reason for it. What was it this time?"

"I don't know. I guess there's not really any good reason for it. I wasn't thinking that I was _keeping_ it from anyone. I just wanted to know for sure before I started talking about it."

"Did you ask for the meeting or did he?"

"I did."

"Was he surprised?"

"I don't think so."

"Is it at headquarters?"

"No. Actually, it's at the DC field office."

"Really? Why?" Tim asked.

"I have no idea."

"Well, I wouldn't mind having you back around here...or around _there_."

"There's no guarantee of that," Tony said. "Even if I do get to come back Stateside, I could still be anywhere."

"Yeah, I know."

They fell silent again. The accident kept replaying in his mind. Over and over again. The lights, the rain, the pothole.

"Man, I hate this," Tim said.

"Oh, it's not that bad. It's not even raining much anymore."

"No. It's not that...I mean, I hate that, too, but that's not what I mean. I hate that _I_ did this to us. We were having a lot of fun today and I had to go and ruin it."

"Hey, come on. You didn't go back in time and change whether or not we enjoyed ourselves today. We did. Just because the day ended in a spectacularly crappy way doesn't mean that the whole day was bad."

Tim shook his head. "I should have just pulled over and waited. It would have been better to drive in the dark."

"I would have kept going, too. You weren't going too fast. We just are unexperienced Alaska drivers." Tony slugged Tim on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We're not seriously hurt. We're not dying. We're just going to lose a day of our vacation...and we're going to have to pay a fine on the car."

Tim took a deep breath and tried not to freak out. He turned his mind back onto Tony's meeting.

"So...what are you going to ask for?"

"To come back to the States, preferably East Coast."

Tim smiled. "DC?"

"No positions available there," Tony said. "And don't even think about offering me your job. Even if Vance would go for it, which he wouldn't, _I_ wouldn't go for it."

"Where would you choose, if you could?"

"I don't like thinking about that. Then, I'll get too attached to an idea."

"Think about it, anyway," Tim said. "If you know what you want, then, you can show Vance that you've thought it through."

"Well, I was thinking down at the CRFO. I might be asked to use some of the stuff I've learned from Bahrain, and it'd still be around here."

"Hot and humid, though."

"DC is, too."

"Yeah, and FLETC is worse. You were ready to strip down just because the A/C was out for a few hours. What would you do further south?" Tim said, smiling. "Besides, there's going to be an opening in the Norfolk Field Office."

"How do you know _that_?"

"Because I still have friends down there."

"And they know this, because?"

"Because I asked them to keep an ear open for stuff like that."

Tony sounded more than a little bemused.

"Why? You wanting to move?"

"No." Tim paused, unsure if it would sound wrong. "I was thinking that you might be."

Tony let out a surprised laugh.

"You're kidding. Did you really think I was that miserable?"

"Miserable? No. I just got the feeling that you didn't really like it over there, but I didn't think that you'd even consider asking to come back if there wasn't actually a place to go."

"And so you started looking for a job for me?"

"Well, I would have said something if I had known you already had a meeting with Vance, but since you didn't see fit to tell me in advance..."

Tony laughed. "You sound a little miffed, Tim."

"I'm not, but I really would have said something if you had told me what you were thinking," Tim said. "But at the risk of sounding sappy and inviting your teasing...I've missed having you close by. You're probably my best friend, Tony. I don't know how it happened, but it did, and I've missed you."

There was a long silence. Then, a crinkling sound and Tony put his arm around Tim's shoulders and squeezed them.

"Thanks, Tim," Tony said, his voice soft.

Silence fell and they sat together for hours, occasionally dozing, occasionally awake.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

A drip of water landed right on Tony's nose and woke him very suddenly. He sat up and realized that it wasn't dark anymore. It was light. Or at least, it was the kind of light that says it's daytime, but cloudy. He looked over and saw that Tim was completely out. By the light of day, he looked a little worse for the wear. He had a few small scratches, and couple of darkening bruises on his face. Yeah, that would be hard to hide. He'd have to tell Delilah about it.

As he sat there, he thought about Tim actually saying that he'd missed Tony. He had to admit that there was a part of him that had wondered if anyone would really notice old Tony DiNozzo being gone. Would his absence be felt as keenly as he himself felt others' absences?

And it looked like Tim, at least, was noticing. It wasn't that Tim was the only one who cared. Abby was still in regular contact and so was Jimmy. Even Ellie talked to him on occasion, but Tim was the first person to say that he genuinely missed Tony being around.

His musing was interrupted by a very welcome sound.

A semi downshifting.

"Wake up, Tim! There's someone coming!" Tony shouted and leapt to his feet, trying to untangle himself from the blankets and the poncho. He nearly pitched himself into the mud, face first, but he managed to keep his balance and slog through the muddy water over to the road again, waving his arms as he went, not wanting to miss this chance to prove to Tim that things were going to be just fine.

He stood by the totaled truck and was not ashamed to jump up and down as he waved his arms. The semi was coming down from the north. So it was even headed in the right direction. Tony looked back and saw Tim trying to untangle himself from his own blankets.

Thankfully, the semi finally slowed to a stop and the window rolled down.

"What happened to you?" the driver shouted at them.

"Got stuck in the storm last night," Tony said. "Can you help us?"

The semi pulled further forward and then over to the edge of the road, but not off it. To Tony's relief, the driver turned off the engine and climbed down. He walked over to Tony and held out his hand.

"Name's Ammon. How about you?"

"I'm Tony, and Tim is trying to get himself upright over there," Tony said, pointing to Tim who had almost tripped just like Tony.

"You're both all right?"

"Yeah."

Ammon whistled as he looked at the truck.

"You're lucky. I'm surprised it didn't just roll all the way."

"So was I," Tony said.

Tim slogged through the mud and joined them.

"What were you guys thinking, driving in that mess last night?"

"It wasn't like that when we started," Tim said.

"Where you guys headed?"

"Back to Fairbanks. We went up to the Arctic Circle. Started in the morning and it was beautiful," Tony said. "The clouds seemed to come out of nowhere when we were on our way back."

"It can do that in the spring." Then, Ammon's eyes widened. "Hey, did you see a semi going by you?"

"Yeah," Tony said. "That contributed. We hit a huge pothole right as it was passing us and we couldn't get back straight again."

"You mean _I_ couldn't," Tim said. "I was driving."

"He was on the radio with some of us and was kind of trash talking about city drivers taking their half out of the middle."

"We weren't doing that!" Tony said, feeling indignant. "We read up on how to drive here and Tim was on his side of the road."

"I was probably too close to my side of the road, actually," Tim said, ruefully.

Tony looked up the road and saw the pothole...or rather the huge chasm in the road that Tim had hit.

"That's the pothole right there and we hit it. Hard," Tony said, pointing. "It's not in the middle. It's on our side."

Ammon just chuckled. "Don't worry. He wasn't really serious, but he didn't see you go off the road. He would have stopped if he had. He just thought you guys were nuts for driving in the storm. Even he pulled over for a little while, but he'd have stopped."

"I'd _hope_ so," Tony said.

"He would. Jack just gets a little arrogant sometimes. It's the way he is."

Ammon walked over to the truck and looked it over.

"I think this is a loss."

"Yeah."

"Rental?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you picked a good one for driving on the Dalton Highway, but it's going to be pricy."

"Yeah, we figured that out ourselves."

Ammon laughed again. "Well, I am headed to Fairbanks. I can't do anything about the truck, but you guys want a lift?"

"That would be wonderful," Tony said. "We've been out here all night."

"Probably a good thing you just stuck with the truck. I haven't seen the road further, but I was going through some pretty nasty washouts. You might have got caught in one of the flash floods, especially in this low area."

"That's what Tony said, too," Tim said. "How far is it back to Fairbanks?"

"Eighty miles or so. The Yukon's not far from here and I make pretty good time. I'll call for a tow truck to come out here and get the truck. That will make it a little easier for you."

"That's great. Thanks a lot."

"All right. Grab your gear and we'll get on our way."

"Sure thing," Tony said.

He and Tim hurried back to their space under the tree, slogging through the mud again and trying to be quick, lest their rescuer change his mind.

"See? I told you we'd be fine," Tony said.

Tim flushed in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, Tim. I won't rub your face in it. You don't need any more injuries."

Tim straightened. "Injuries?"

"Just a couple of scrapes and a bruise or two."

Tim groaned. "Delilah really is going to kill me."

"No, she won't. You're going to be right as rain and she'll just be happy that you got back safe and sound."

"Maybe."

"No maybes about it. She will be. Just tell her in advance so she doesn't think you're keeping things from her."

"I'm dreading that call."

"I'll trade you. You can call the insurance and I'll call Delilah."

"On second thought..." Tim said and smiled.

Tony was glad to see Tim relaxing a little bit more. Soon enough, they had their junk stowed in the cab of the semi and they were back on their way to Fairbanks. As they drove, Ammon pointed out various sights. He even pulled over once to show them a mother grizzly with her cubs. There was quite a bit of wildlife out and about, and it was nice to see it and be able to relax. They talked about where they were coming from, where they were going, and Ammon reciprocated, telling them about how he was earning money for college by driving up here, but how he didn't really like the cold. He just dealt with it because the money was good, and he needed the money because his family couldn't afford it. He was from Anchorage, originally, and had been hauling oil for a couple of years. This was going to be his last summer driving, and he was excited at the chance to go to college. He would be the first one in his family to do it.

Finally, they could see the outskirts of Fairbanks approaching.

"We'll be in Fairbanks, soon. Where would you like me to drop you off? The rental place?"

In unison, Tony and Tim said, "Hotel."

Ammon laughed. "I can do that. Just give me the address and you'll be there in a jiffy."

A jiffy apparently meant ten minutes and a semi pulled up in front of the hotel. It wasn't even noon yet, and they were back.

"Here you are. Anything else you need?"

"Nope. Thanks for everything, Ammon," Tim said. "Who knows how long we would have had to wait if you hadn't stopped."

"Actually, I wasn't even going to be heading south when I did. I just decided that I needed to get going."

"Well, I'm glad you did," Tony said. "Really glad. Anything that we can do? You need a college donation?"

Ammon smiled and shook his head. "Nope. I was giving service and I've got the money. You can just do the same to someone else. I'll have a great story to tell my family tonight. Glad I could help."

They gathered their stuff and got out of the semi. They walked to their hotel room and, by unspoken consent, they dropped everything on the floor and flopped onto their beds.

Safe and sound.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

After about ten minutes, Tim sighed.

"We need to call."

"Who?" Tony asked. "Delilah or the rental place?"

"Both."

"Yeah. How about this. I'll go and shower first while you call Delilah. Then, you can shower while I call about the rental."

"I'll go for that," Tim said and forced himself to sit up.

Tony seemed as reluctant to get up as Tim was, but he went to his suitcase and grabbed some clothes.

Tim did appreciate that he was going to have some privacy while he called Delilah. He took a breath and dialed.

" _Tim, I'm glad you called,"_ Delilah said as soon as she answered the phone. _"When you didn't call last night, I got a little worried. How is it?"_

"It's been good," Tim said. "...but...well, there was a reason I didn't call last night."

" _Why? You sound like I'm going to be upset."_

Tim laughed a little.

" _Are you all right?"_

"Yeah...but the rental isn't."

" _You were in an accident?"_

"Sort of."

" _What does that mean?"_

Tim took another deep breath and explained.

"Tony and I found out that there's a road that goes all the way up to the north coast of Alaska and that we could get to the Arctic Circle on it. There's a site for it and everything. We decided to go. It's a pretty bad road and we couldn't drive very fast."

" _And Tony drove too fast and..."_

"No. Tony wasn't driving when this happened. I was," Tim said firmly. "And I was only going about twenty miles an hour. It was on our way back. We got caught in a storm. I hit a pothole and before we knew it, the truck was off the road on its side."

" _What?!"_

"We're both okay. It was more scary than anything else, but it was in the middle of a rainstorm, late in the evening, and there's no cell service out there. So we had to sit by the side of the road, wrapped up in blankets until this morning when a guy stopped and gave us a ride. We just got back to our hotel room. Tony's going to call the rental place and see about getting another car."

" _Another?"_

"We're in Fairbanks, but our tickets have us flying out of Anchorage. So we need to have another car to get down there."

" _Right. Sorry. I know. But you're sure you're okay?"_

"I have a couple of bruises, but I'm fine. I mostly freaked out and Tony had to talk me down. It wasn't his fault. It was mine...and the storm's...and the semi that almost hit us. I don't want you thinking that Tony was being reckless. He wasn't."

" _I'm sorry, Tim. There's no excuse for trying to lay blame. As long as you're okay..."_

"I am."

" _Then, I won't berate you for being reckless."_

"We really weren't," Tim said, earnestly. "I know that I have responsibilities. I wouldn't have agreed to go if I had thought it would be dangerous. It was mostly the storm and it just came in too fast."

" _I know. Tim, I know. I'm just being silly and thinking about all the ways that could have gone horribly wrong."_

"I did, too."

There was a soft laugh. _"Of course, you did."_

"Oh, and I ended up telling Tony about the baby."

" _What? We weren't going to tell anyone. Not this soon."_

"I know, but he couldn't understand why I was freaking out as much as I was, and I had to give him a reason. I didn't want to lie about it. He won't share that out."

" _Are you sure? Tony's not always known for being discrete."_

"He won't have anyone to tell. He's going back to Bahrain. For now."

" _For now?"_

"He says he has a meeting with Vance before he goes back. He's going to ask about coming back stateside."

" _That's great, Tim. I hope he can come back. I think he really wants to."_

"I do, too."

" _All right. Thank you for telling me, and be careful your last few days. ...and call me every night, all right? Now, that something's happened, I'll be worrying more, and I'm not embarrassed to admit it. At least, not to you."_

"I will. I promise. I love you."

" _I love you, too, Tim."_

They said their good-byes and Tim lay back. That had gone better than he'd feared it would. Delilah was upset, but he could honestly say that he wasn't really injured. Bruises, yes, but no real injury. It had definitely helped that they were going so slowly.

He lay back down on the bed and closed his eyes while he waited for Tony to get out of the bathroom. The insurance and stuff would probably be a mess, but they'd get it figured out, eventually. They had survived it and everything would work out okay. He kept telling himself that and gradually, he started to relax.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened.

"Your turn, Tim."

Tim opened his eyes, startled by the sudden sound.

"Hey, how did Delilah take it?"

Tim sat up.

"It was okay. She was upset, but she accepted that I wasn't seriously injured. She made me promise that I'd call her every night so she doesn't worry any more."

"You were pretty much doing that anyway," Tony said.

"Yeah, but now, it's official," Tim said.

"Hey, Tim...I'm sorry about all this. I was the one who wanted to go up there."

Tim shook his head. "No. I wanted to go, too. I just didn't anticipate an accident. I'll be fine. Really. Give me a couple of days and I'll be back to normal. I just don't guarantee it for the immediate future."

Tony smiled.

"Well, I'll be at least as traumatized as you were after I call the rental place and the insurance."

"Good luck. I'm going to go and shower."

"Yeah, thanks," Tony said, groaning.

Tim got some clean clothes and headed into the bathroom. He didn't rush through it. He took his time, but when he came out, Tony was still on the phone, talking to someone about where the accident had happened, what had happened to the truck, who else was involved (no one). He looked at Tim and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure there was no one else involved in the accident. It was pouring rain! The weather was bad enough that we didn't need someone else." He paused. "Yes, in hindsight, maybe we should have pulled over, but we were only going about 20 miles an hour. We thought that was safe enough and we were in a truck! It has four-wheel drive!" He listened. "Yes, I'll hold." He looked at Tim. "These guys are trying to find some way to weasel out of covering the accident. Jerks."

"You're doing a great job, Tony," Tim said.

"Thanks. You want to take my..." He stopped. "Yes, I'm still here."

Tim smiled and walked back to his bed. He lay down again. Relaxation seemed like the best option here. He let his eyes drift closed and, after a few minutes, he couldn't even hear Tony speaking any longer.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony finally got off the phone. Insurance, rental, police, tow truck. Multiple calls to some of them. It was all done after more than an hour. By the time this was all finished, they'd owe some money and there'd be a ding on the insurance, but since it was just the one truck and no one else was involved, it was fine. Amazingly, because the truck hadn't rolled completely, they thought that it could be repaired which would reduce the fine he had to pay. No one had been hurt, and they hadn't been at fault, not really. The semi hadn't been at fault, either. It was an unfortunate combination of circumstances that had made it almost impossible to avoid.

"Done," he said and turned around.

Tim was sleeping on his bed. He'd probably start snoring soon enough, judging by how wide his mouth was open. Tony grinned and considered waking Tim up with a pillow, but then, neither of them had been able to sleep much last night. Maybe a nap for a couple of hours was the best idea.

Decision made, Tony set his alarm for two hours later and lay down on his bed. It didn't take long to fall asleep.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

A beeping sound intruded on pleasant sleep. Reluctantly, Tim woke up. He rolled over and saw Tony just waking up as well.

"What time is it?" Tim asked.

"Dinner time. I figured we probably shouldn't miss out on a real meal. Where do you want to go?"

Tim thought about it.

"Nowhere. Let's just get something in the hotel or get something delivered. I don't want to go anywhere tonight."

Tony chuckled. "You can't avoid driving forever. For one thing, we still have to get down to Anchorage and no way am I doing all the driving. For another, you aren't going to be afraid of driving. Not on my watch."

"That wasn't what I was thinking."

"Really?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Not really. I'll admit that I'm not especially excited about driving at the moment, but I really wasn't thinking about never driving again."

"But how afraid of driving are you going to be?"

Tim raised an eyebrow in reply.

"Who says I'm going to be afraid at all?"

Tony smiled. "Me."

"Well, I'm not."

"That's right. You're not because you're going to be driving on this trip."

"All right. Now that we've got that out of the way, I still don't want to go anywhere tonight. I just want to sit on this bed and move only as much as I absolutely have to."

Tony's brow furrowed.

"You hurt worse than you said?"

Tim smiled and shook his head. "No. I'm bruised, not broken, and I don't want to move around more than I have to."

"You sure?"

"Positive. On both counts." Tim decided to bite the bullet and just say it. "I'm not going to fall apart again, Tony. I did have a moment right after, and a little bit of edginess last night, but really. I'm fine. I'm not perfect, but I never was." He smiled.

"Hey, sorry, Tim."

"No. There's nothing to apologize for. You know what I've been like. You know what happened to me. It's a valid worry."

"No, it isn't," Tony said. "You haven't had that problem for years, and I should let that be the way it is."

"So should I. Doesn't keep me from screwing it up," Tim said, smiling.

"Then, I'll stop and you stop."

"Good idea. I'll take it under advisement."

Tony grinned. "So now, the most important thing. Dinner."

"I still don't want to go anywhere."

"Fine. We'll order pizza. That work for you?"

"Works great for me."

"Okay."

They ordered pizza, ate it and then sat around the rest of the night before deciding to go to bed early.

In spite of having slept for a few hours that afternoon, both Tony and Tim were able to fall asleep very quickly.

And neither of them awakened during the night.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Okay, Tim, we have to make a decision," Tony said, the next morning. He'd got up well before Tim and was showered and dressed while Tim was only just getting out of bed.

"About what?" Tim asked.

"About what we're still going to do and what we're not going to do."

Tim smiled. "I thought you didn't like planning."

"Well, we lost a day, and since we flew here, I can't just do what I'd like. We do have tickets to get home and I'm not willing to pay to change the dates."

Tim nodded and got serious. "Okay. So we were planning on spending a couple of days driving around Anchorage. Plus, you wanted to do Denali, at least a little bit. What do you want to cut out? It's about seven hours down to Anchorage and that's just driving."

Tony looked at Tim and then he looked at the map of the route down to Anchorage. He really wanted to see Denali, but at the same time, he didn't want to inflict another gravel road on Tim so soon after the accident. It was one thing to say that Tim needed to get back in the saddle and drive again. It was another to act like there was no residual problems to consider. There was no reason to force him into that same situation. Plus, would the rental place even be willing to let them drive on another gravel road?

Tim pulled out a map and started perusing it. Suddenly, he got a look on his face that said he was thinking of something.

"What is it, Tim?" Tony asked.

"We were going to take the Parks Highway down to Anchorage, right?"

"Yeah. I don't think there are other ways to get down there. ...or are there?"

Tim held out the map. "Look. Isn't that another highway going down and ending up at Anchorage?"

Tony looked more closely. It did look like a road and if he followed it down, it looked like it ended up in Anchorage.

"Huh. It looks like it'll take longer."

"But it also looks like it'll give us other options. If we were to cut out most of Denali and just give ourselves the whole day to get to Anchorage, we could drive this other highway and take our time and maybe see some stuff we hadn't planned on seeing."

"Is it paved?"

"I don't know."

"Well, let's ask downstairs and see. If it is, I'm all for it. Maybe the guy at the desk can give us some tips."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm going to get ready and then we can go down and get breakfast and ask. Then, if it works out, we can get packed and head out."

"All right."

Tim went into the bathroom and Tony sat on the bed, waiting. He was glad to see Tim mostly normal...but regardless of which road they took, he'd already decided that he'd drive first and give Tim a chance to get back in the groove.

After Tim was ready, they went down and had breakfast and got some information about the Richardson Highway. It was paved all the way and they needed to get onto the Glenallen Highway to get to Anchorage but it was an amazing drive and there was a lot less traffic. There was even a stretch of the Denali Highway that was paved on that side, where it was all gravel and dirt on the west side.

All in all, it sounded perfect after their misadventures. They quickly got packed up, took a taxi over to get the new rental and were out of Fairbanks before nine a.m.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The first leg of their drive was right beside the Tanana River which, like the Yukon had been, was very wide with a number of meanders.

"I don't know if I've ever seen rivers like this," Tim said. "They're so huge. It's like five rivers in one."

"Yeah. I wonder what makes them like this. The Potomac is nothing like this," Tony said.

"Maybe it's the flat plains, but it's not like it's hugely mountainous around DC," Tim said. "Whatever the reason, it's beautiful and amazing."

"Yeah."

They pulled over a couple of times and took pictures, but mostly, they just drove until they hit Delta Junction where the Trans-Alaska Pipeline once again made an appearance. They stopped and got gas and were about to go on when Tony suddenly realized that they hadn't bought any souvenirs yet.

"We can't leave this part of Alaska without souvenirs!"

"Yes, we can," Tim said. "We can buy souvenirs down in Anchorage. It'll probably be cheaper than anywhere up here."

"Oh, look! The Knotty Shop. We're stopping," Tony said, and since he was driving, he suited actions to words and pulled up in front of the store.

"I'm betting that the stuff in here is going to be really expensive."

"Oh, I'll bet we can find reasonable stuff. Come on," Tony wheedled. "It'll be fun, even if it's too expensive. We have all day to get to Anchorage!"

"Okay, okay," Tim said.

They went inside and there was something about the shop that reminded Tim of a place he'd been once before. It was a bit bittersweet to think of, but he couldn't help making the comparison.

"It's like the Corn Palace...or Wall Drug," he said, almost to himself.

"Even better," Tony said. "Because it's in Alaska!"

Tim smiled at the tone of Tony's voice. He was deliberately _not_ saying anything about that time, but Tim couldn't shake the feeling as they walked around. It didn't make it less fun, but it did change it a little bit. Just a little.

Then, Tony laughed. "You should get this for the days your team is driving you crazy," he said, holding up a board.

Tim laughed. It was shaped like an old-fashioned paddle and it had _Attitude Adjuster_ written on it.

"Or maybe for you."

"My team doesn't drive me crazy," Tony said.

"I didn't say for your team," Tim said and grinned.

"Ooh. Ouch."

They found a sign that was carved out of wood in the shape of a moose that read _Go away!_ in big letters.

"'Whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger,'" Tim read. "'Except for bears. Bears will kill you.'"

"Ha! I'm getting that!" Tony said and picked up the sign.

They saw antlers which were labeled as paddles. There were pots and slingshots, all clearly locally made. They got a slingshot for Jimmy and Bree...which Tony said Victoria would love when she got older. They also found candy labeled as Moose Droppings and Bear Poop.

They bought some.

They also bought some huckleberry popcorn to eat in the truck on the way down. There were t-shirts and hats. They bought a few of those, including one for Abby that said _Knotty Girl_.

Then, just as they were about to finish their shopping, Tim saw a collection of photos printed on metal, depicting the northern lights. He walked over and contemplated them for a few seconds and then picked one.

"I wish we could have seen the northern lights," he said. "I've never seen an aurora before."

"Not exactly the right time of the year to see something that's only visible in the dark."

"Yeah, I know."

"Maybe another time?" Tony suggested.

Tim looked at him and smiled. "Yeah. Maybe."

They bought all their items and were about to leave when they saw the ice cream for sale. It wasn't even lunchtime yet, but they decided to buy some. After all, when were they going to get back here? So they bought ice cream and continued out to the car.

The drive went on.

Then, they reached a place called Isabel Pass. There was the Gakona Glacier as well, just right there. They pulled over and stared at the sights around them.

There was a long while that both were just looking. No photos or anything.

"So... boy or girl?" Tony asked.

Tim smiled, still looking at the glacier. "We don't know yet. Usually, you have to wait until between four and five months."

"Are you going to leave it a surprise?"

"No. We want to know."

"Names?"

"Plenty," Tim said.

"Well, you know... Tony is a great name, and so is Tonya."

Tim laughed. "We're not naming our child after you, Tony. I like you, but not that much."

"Oh, I wasn't suggesting that. Tony is just a great name. I was speaking objectively," Tony said, grinning.

"Yeah, right. Pictures?"

"Definitely."

They took turns getting pictures with the glacier in the background. Then, Tim carefully propped up the camera on the hood of the truck and set the timer. They got a picture of the two of them. Then, they switched and Tim started driving.

Tim could tell that Tony was keeping an eye on him as he started, but Tim could honestly say that he wasn't too nervous. There was that little edge of worry, but overall, he didn't mind driving. There had been very little traffic and the road was completely paved. They continued on their way. After a while, Tony went back to their previous discussion.

"So really, what names have you talked about? Are you going to name him or her after your parents?"

"Probably not," Tim said. "We're not going to make any decisions until after we see how it goes, but if it's too hard for Delilah, this will be our only child and that would mean that whichever parent we chose would be the only one with the name being carried. So we're probably just going to choose names we like. We _might_ do a middle name. If we did, it would be someone on Delilah's side since the baby will already have my last name."

"That's nice. What names have you thought of?"

"Well, we both agreed that we're staying away from the names that are spelled weird or are trying so hard to be _unique_."

"No Moxie Crimefighter for you?"

"Nope. Besides, that's already taken."

"Ha. Come on. Really. What names?"

"Well, we haven't really narrowed it down much yet. Remember that we've only known about this for a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, but I know you, McGee. You don't waste time. Come on. Give!"

Tim flushed a little. "Well, we did think of Thomas."

"Or _Thom_ for short?"

Tim felt his face redden even more.

"Delilah suggested it, first!"

"And you just happened to agree?"

"Yeah. Just happened to. We also thought of Isaac or Paul, for a boy. Emma or Jane or Carolyn, for a girl. Delilah said that she wasn't sure what her parents were thinking when they named her after a seductress in the Bible, but she said we could make sure we didn't inadvertently do that to our child. Simple names, easy to spell, easy to say...and they're nice names, too."

"How about Timothea?"

"What? No," Tim said, firmly. "There's no way I'd do that to my daughter."

"You could start a new trend."

"Absolutely not. I don't want to start a trend like that. How cruel."

Tony laughed.

They kept on their way until they got to Paxson. This was where the Denali Highway began. Tim knew that Tony wanted to go into the park. They wouldn't have a chance of seeing Denali itself on this side, but there were still some amazing mountains.

Tony wasn't saying anything, but when the sign came up, Tim took the turnoff into the park.

"You sure, Tim? We don't have to."

"We don't have to go all the way through. We can just drive on the paved part and then come back," Tim said. "Then, we'll still get some of the view and we won't have to deal with the road."

Tony gave him a gentle slug on the shoulder.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem."

They stopped at the visitor center before heading out. As they drove, they saw some moose and even caught a glimpse of a bear. At least, Tony claimed it was a bear. Tim didn't get a good look and it was gone too quickly for either of them to be definitive, but Tony still insisted it was, in fact, a bear.

They stopped many times for pictures, but when the end of the paved road came, Tim turned around and they headed back to the main highway. Tim hoped that Tony really didn't mind, but he just didn't want to deal with it, and if they ended up driving all the way through, who knew how long it would take them to get back to a paved road. Better not to deal with that.

So it was back to the highway and back to heading south. They got something to eat in Paxson and they got more gas, figuring it was best to top off the tank every time they could, rather than risk getting low.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The drive was plenty long and they switched off more than once so that each of them had a chance to take pictures and just enjoy the scenery. Even when it wasn't outright exciting, it was so different from what they usually experienced that it was worth just staring at.

"Did you ever look for her?" Tim asked, suddenly.

Tony knew what Tim meant.

"No," he said. "I never did."

"Did you want to?"

"Yes...and no. In the end, I figured that Ziva would contact someone if she wanted to. Since she didn't, well, it wasn't really my place to insist. Really, though...the longer I'm away from her, the less it feels like I was really in love in the first place."

"Maybe you'll find someone else," Tim said, almost hesitantly.

"Believe it or not, Tim, I'm not looking right now."

"I believe it."

Something about the way Tim said that made Tony look over at him, but Tim was staring out the windshield.

"Are you saying you think I should?"

"Not if you're not ready to. When I met Delilah...I was looking," Tim admitted. "After all the times I had struck out, all the times when the woman I was attracted to was either a criminal or else just not really interested in me, I still was looking. So when I met Delilah, I was thinking about whether or not we'd work. Not right at first, but after a few dates. I was afraid that she wasn't really interested in someone like me, but I was interested in her. ...and I'm not the person to be giving relationship advice."

Tony smiled. "I don't know. Of the two of us, you're the one who's married."

"Yeah, but I'm not perfect at this stuff. You have a lot more experience than I do."

"Well, _that's_ a given, but we can look at who was more successful."

"You've got time."

"Yeah. Maybe." Tony thought about it and he really hadn't been thinking about a relationship in months. Maybe it was just the place he'd been living, but he hadn't considered trying to date in a long while.

They both fell silent, but Tony was thinking about what Tim had said and hoping that this particular topic wouldn't come up again. After a few minutes...

"Sorry, Tony. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's all right. Don't worry about it."

"There's the turn for the Glenn Highway," Tim said, pointing.

Tony nodded and got onto the highway. This would take them all the way to Anchorage.

They went on for another couple of hours without much conversation, but as they neared Anchorage, Tim started looking at the map again.

"Hey, we should stop at Thunderbird Falls," Tim said.

"What is it?"

"Looks like some kind of a short hike. We haven't done a lot of that this trip. It would be nice to get out of the car and walk."

"Sounds like a plan."

They got off the highway and parked at the trailhead. The hike wasn't very long, and when they reached the end, they were greeted with a beautiful waterfall, cascading about 200 feet from top to bottom. As they had been through much of this trip, they were alone.

"This was a great idea," Tony said. "The hike was easy. There are no crowds here, and it's really nice. I'm amazed at how different it is down here versus up at the Arctic Circle."

"Yeah. It's more like...Washington or something like that. Still further north, but less...wild."

Tony nodded.

"Okay. Pictures."

They got pictures of the waterfall, pictures of each other at the waterfall, and pictures of Tony pretending to fall into the waterfall.

After he finished pretending to fall, he straightened and saw Tim staring at him.

"What?"

"Nothing. We should probably get back to the truck."

Tim started for the trail. Tony ran over and grabbed his arm.

"Hey! You can't have an expression like that on your face and then claim it's nothing. What was that about?"

"It's going to sound stupid."

"Okay. That's fine."

Tim laughed. "I was just thinking...that no matter what else, you're going to be the best uncle in the world because... I think of you like family. You kept me from freaking out last night and...and you get me trying things I would never do on my own...like going to the Arctic Circle. I never had a brother, and I was always the oldest. You can be really annoying, sometimes, but at the same time, be there when I need you to be. It's...like I imagined how having a brother would be."

Tony was surprised at the sudden outpouring of sentiment from Tim, but he had to admit that he had asked for it. ...and it was surprisingly touching.

"It's not stupid, Tim. I never had a brother, either."

As they started down the trail, Tony gave Tim a manly thump on the back, but he was thinking about what Tim had said all the way back to the truck.

But he couldn't leave it as serious as Tim had made it. It just wasn't his style. So when they got into the truck, Tony grinned.

"You realize what you're doing by saying that I'll be an uncle, right?"

Tim smiled back. "I'll warn you, right now, DiNozzo. If you make our child into a wayward rebel, I may never speak to you again."

"Point taken. Let's get to Anchorage, shall we?"

"Yes. I'm ready to eat dinner and go to bed."

"Let's get going."

They got back on the Glenn Highway and drove the remaining thirty miles to Anchorage. Tim found them a hotel to stay in for the next two nights and they got there without mishap. They grabbed something for dinner and then went to bed almost as soon as they got into the room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

They spent their last day in Alaska mostly exploring Anchorage. They went down to a bike trail right along the coast and walked for a while. They went to a couple of museums, including the Anchorage Museum, and tried to get a little history along with their wandering. In the evening, they went to the famous Moose's Tooth Pub for dinner. At least, they'd been _told_ it was famous. Neither Tony nor Tim had ever heard of the place, but the pizza was supposed to be good. So they figured it was worth trying.

Then, it was to bed for one last night in Alaska. They hadn't seen even a tenth of what the state had to offer, maybe not even a hundredth, but it had given them a taste of it and they knew that there was always the possibility of coming back and seeing more.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony was suddenly awakened by a pillow in his face. He sat up.

"Hey!"

"Time to wake up!" Tim said, grinning. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

"You've been planning to hit me with a pillow?" Tony asked.

"Ever since you did it to me."

"Two days ago?"

"No, further back than that."

"When... You mean like three years ago?"

Tim laughed. "Yes."

"You're nuts."

"And you're still in bed. It's time to turn in the rental and catch our flight."

Tim seemed positively giddy, and Tony wondered why.

"What are you on, Tim? It's four in the morning. How can you possibly be so excited?"

Tim smiled. "I don't know. I woke up about an hour ago and I was wide awake. I thought about everything we'd done and the fact that the accident didn't kill us, and I just had to get up and get moving."

"Methinks someone is excited about getting back to his squeeze."

"Maybe."

"Well, I'll be ready in a few minutes."

Tony got up and went into the bathroom to shower. He was glad to see Tim being more upbeat, but he wished that he hadn't decided to regain his _joie de vivre_ so early in the morning.

He got ready as quickly as he could. Then, they drove to the airport, dropped off the rental and checked in for their flight. They had more than an hour before boarding, so they got coffee and doughnuts while they waited. Then, they went to their gate and sat down to wait.

"Well? Good vacation?" Tony asked.

"Yes. With the exception of the accident which I'm still feeling, it was very good. It'll be my last vacation until Christmas, so it's a good one," Tim said.

"I have a nice bruise from the seatbelt, but you have the best trophy," Tony said and reached out to gently pat Tim's bruised cheek.

"I'd rather not," Tim said, pushing Tony's hand away. "But I'm glad that you wanted to come here. I would never have had a trip to Alaska on my own. And we got to see the Arctic Circle."

"Good."

"So, what time is your meeting with Vance?"

"Tomorrow morning, nine."

"Well, I still have tomorrow off, so I'll drive you over, wait for you to finish and then, drive you back."

"My flight is tomorrow night, don't forget."

"So we'll have time for one last meal before your 14 hours on a plane."

"Right. Don't remind me."

"Well, you'd better tell me what Vance says."

"I will."

"Good."

They sat and waited until it was time to board. Then, it was onto the plane for a long flight back to DC. They were lucky to have an on-time, uneventful flight, and they got into DC at about ten that night. Tim drove them back to his place. Delilah was already in bed, so Tony went to the spare room while Tim went to bed.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim woke up to Delilah snuggling up to him.

"It's nice to have you back," she said. "I missed my furnace."

"It's nice to _be_ back," he said.

"You had fun?"

"Yes. You'll have to see the pictures. Worth seeing."

Delilah kissed him on his bruised cheek.

"You don't look as bad as I was afraid you would."

"I'm still sore, but I'm just glad that it wasn't worse."

"Me, too."

Tim smiled and put his arms around Delilah, holding her close.

"I have to give Tony a ride to his meeting with Vance, but his flight still leaves tonight."

"Okay," Delilah said. "I have work, anyway. You can enjoy your last day of freedom."

"You want to shower first?"

"No, but I should. I have to leave before you do."

"I'll let you," Tim said, releasing her.

Delilah laughed softly and pushed away. Tim watched as she got into her chair, and he wondered what would happen when the pregnancy got further along. How hard would it be to maneuver herself into and out of her chair when she was also maneuvering their baby? He hoped that everything would go well, but he was afraid of the problems she might face. He sat up and moved to the edge of the bed before Delilah rolled away.

"I love you," Tim said, catching her hand for a moment.

"I love you, too," Delilah said, but her expression was a little confused. Then, she smiled. "And everything will be fine. I'll be fine, and so will our baby, whether it ends up being Thomas or Jane."

She leaned over and kissed him again and then went into the bathroom.

Tim sat where he was. If asked about the details of how his life would turn out, this wouldn't have been it, but from a more general perspective, it was. He was married. He had a good job. Soon, he'd be a father. All in all, in spite of the complications (that he could never have anticipated), he had what most people wanted, and the main struggle would be remembering that in the midst of the challenges that went along with any life.

But that was how it was for everyone. Being aware of the bad, but focusing on the good.

One deep breath and Tim pushed away the worries and focused on what would be coming up that day.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony was waiting for Vance to arrive for their meeting. He wasn't sure why Vance had chosen to have their meeting be at the DC field office instead of at headquarters. Tim was down talking to his team, getting an update...and probably explaining how he'd got the bruises.

Then, the door opened and Vance walked in.

"Agent DiNozzo, I'm sorry for the delay. I had a last-minute meeting."

"That's fine. Director, can I ask why you wanted to meet here and not at headquarters? It would have been fine for me to go that far."

"Because I don't want you getting any ideas."

Tony furrowed his brow. "About what?"

"About regressing to being a part of a team, rather than leading a team. I need you leading one. And being confronted with Gibbs' team might give you bad ideas."

Tony grinned at the description. "I think I'm made of sterner stuff than that, Director."

"Glad to hear it. Regardless, I also have some meetings, later. It was a good way to kill two birds with one stone. Now, I'm guessing that you're about to request a transfer."

"Yeah."

"I'm not surprised. The Middle East isn't the easiest place to be stationed, but I've had only good reports of your work over there."

"I'm glad, but if it's possible, I would like to come back to the States." Tony hesitated and then decided to do as Tim had suggested. "I've heard that there's a position that'll be coming open at Norfolk and that you need people at the CRFO."

"You've got some good scuttlebutt sources, Agent DiNozzo. I don't suppose that one of them is based at this office?"

"Maybe."

Vance smiled a little and nodded. "Well, your sources are correct. There will be an opening at Norfolk. There will also be two openings aboard the CRFO in Georgia. Given your choice, and understanding that I'm making no promises, which of those would you prefer to have? The CRFO positions are a combination of support for SEAL teams, work on your own and training others. The Norfolk position is a typical team lead."

Tony considered the question. He often made decisions on the fly, but this called for genuine thought. He couldn't start jumping around again like he'd done as a cop. He needed to have a place to settle, and after being in Bahrain, he realized that he wanted to be closer to his friends. And with Tim basically calling him family, that meant more than he would have expected. Beyond that, did he really want the stress involved in a job like he'd have with the CRFO? He had to admit that he enjoyed being in charge of a team. He liked the challenges of that, but he had no interest in advancing any further. He was as far as he wanted. It was just a matter being _where_ he wanted.

"Given the choice, I'd take Norfolk over the CRFO."

"Can you tell me why?"

"Because I like leading a team. I feel like I'm good at it, and it's as high as I care about going. I have some experience that might be useful with the CRFO, but if it's about what I want, then, all I want is to lead a team, preferably stateside."

Typically, Vance didn't show what he thought of Tony's explanation or of his choice.

"All right. You understand that, even if this is possible, it'll take time. I'll have to get a replacement in Bahrain. Plus, the position in Norfolk is not yet officially open. All in all, you could be in Bahrain for another year."

"I understand. If I get what I want, I can wait for it," Tony said, with a grin.

Vance smiled as well.

"HR will be in contact with you in the next few months to let you know what the final result will be. Overall, though, Agent DiNozzo, I want to tell you that I've been most impressed with your work. You went into a difficult situation and you not only survived that obstacle, you have excelled in your position. In a way, this was a proving ground. While I am aware of your previous time in a team lead position, it was extremely short-lived. Too short-lived, to be honest, and I needed to see what you could do. You have done well."

Tony felt almost shocked at the glowing review he'd just received. Vance was generally much more stern and less complimentary where Tony was concerned.

"Thank you, Director," he said, not knowing what else might be expected.

"Now, is there anything else?"

"If you could control the weather in Bahrain, I'd appreciate having it be less humid and a little cooler."

Vance chuckled a little. "If I could control the weather here in DC in the summer, I'd do that, first. Unfortunately, that is not part of my authority as Director of NCIS." He stood. "I believe you're leaving today?"

"Yeah. This evening."

"Then, have a safe flight and be ready for more information to come in the next couple of months."

"Will do. Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome."

Vance left the room and Tony sat where he was for a few seconds. That had gone way better than he had expected. Certainly, he hadn't expected any kind of compliments from Vance. He hadn't expected censure, either, but the positive evaluation had been bracing. It also meant that he was more likely to get what he wanted, even if it would take another year.

He got up and walked out of the room and to the small squadroom where Tim had his team. Tim was sitting at his desk, looking through some papers. He didn't notice Tony, which gave Tony a chance to look him over. In this moment, Tim took completely at ease. He was doing a task that he could do and had a position in which he was quite comfortable.

"You're not supposed to be doing work on your last day off, McGee," Tony said.

Tim looked up and smiled. "I'm not. I'm just going through mail and memos."

"Well, stop it. They'll keep until tomorrow."

"Sure, but did you expect me to sit around and fidget?"

Tony laughed and yanked Tim out of his chair.

"Yes, I did. Come on, before your team shows up and sucks you into working on your last day off."

Tim allowed himself to be pulled out of the building.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well, what?"

"What did Vance say?"

"You know Vance," Tony said. "He doesn't show his hand if he doesn't have to, but he seemed to think that I'd get my wish with the transfer."

"To where?"

"Don't know, but he did ask me what I wanted."

"See! I told you!" Tim said, triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess you can be right every once in a while."

"So what do you want to do with the rest of your day?"

Tony thought about it. Then, he smiled.

"You know what I want to do? I want to go to the National Mall and look at the monuments. I haven't been there in years."

Tim laughed. "Okay. That's fine with me."

So they headed for the National Mall, and they walked around, spending a fun morning and early afternoon looking at the monuments, going up inside the Washington Monument, even going into the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. They got lunch from a street vendor and ate it while wandering around the Mall. Then, they went to the Yard and shared out the souvenirs they'd bought for everyone. Tony noticed that Tim didn't really talk to Gibbs much, but he was happy to chat with Abby and Jimmy. Ducky happened to be there that day as well, so they could give Ducky his souvenir, too. It ended up taking a lot longer than it should have, but they had anticipated that and had the time for it.

Then, they went back to Tim's place and Tony packed up his stuff. He walked out into the main room and sat down on Tim's couch.

Tim came out a few minutes later and sat on the couch.

"Success?" he asked.

"Success."

"Good. Well, what time do you want to go to the airport?"

"I'm supposed to be there three hours early for international flights. So we probably should leave in the next hour. But I _could_ take a taxi."

"No," Tim said, shaking his head. "I can handle DC traffic. It sucks but I can deal with it. There's no reason for you to pay for a taxi when I have a car."

"Thanks for doing this with me, Tim."

"Thanks for having me along."

"No, really. I mean it. I was just thinking that I haven't had someone to do silly stuff with like this for a while. It's only been since we went to the Badlands for the first time."

Tim got an introspective look on his face.

"Funny that it took something so awful to get us to do it. I hate how I still feel sometimes, but I'm glad that we're really friends. I think it's worth it."

"Are you sure?" Tony asked. "I know I can drive you crazy."

"Yes, but you could do that when we weren't friends, too. It's easier to take now," Tim said, dryly.

Tony laughed and then leaned back on the couch, enjoying the roominess that he would be lacking for far too many hours.

"You'd better keep me updated on how everything goes with the baby," Tony said. "Now that I know, you can't keep it a secret."

"Okay, but if you start sharing that out to people before we've decided to tell them, Delilah will kill you and then, if I let her kill you she _might_ let _me_ live."

"Delilah loves you way too much to ever want to kill you," Tony said. "You can see it every time she looks at you."

Tim blushed and shrugged, but he couldn't help smiling.

After a while, it was time to go. Tim drove Tony to the airport, made him promise to call when he was back in Bahrain, and then, Tony checked in, went through security and found his gate. He sat by himself and thought about the trip he'd had. Even with the accident, he had no regrets. He could see that Tim had a good life, and if he was honest, Tony could say that his own life was good, too. It might not be exactly what he wanted just yet, but he had a lot that other people didn't have.

And maybe soon, he'd have even more of what he wanted.


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

 _Six months later..._

Tony was reading his emails before heading to work, when he got one from HR. Excited, he opened it.

 _Agent DiNozzo:_

 _Your transfer from the Bahrain Field Office to the Norfolk Field Office has been approved. You will be expected to report to Norfolk on May 1_ _st_ _to begin the transition. Upon completion of the attached forms, you will receive a moving allowance to assist you in finding suitable lodging in Norfolk. You may also choose to stay in base housing for a period of no more than six weeks, if necessary._

 _Your replacement in Bahrain will arrive March 1_ _st_ _and you will help with the transition before leaving Bahrain._

 _Any questions should be directed to Maralee Hanson._

Tony smiled and was ready to do a happy dance. Vance had already verified that this would be coming, but to see it in writing was exciting. He'd warned his team that there would be a change in leadership soon, but he was glad to see that it would be done so gradually. On the one hand, he did want to get back to the States, but on the other, he didn't want to leave his team in the lurch.

He got up to start his coffee going when there was another ding in his email and, at almost the same time, his phone started ringing. The phone was probably more important than the email, so he answered the phone, first.

"Hello."

" _Thomas Allen McGee!"_

For just a second, Tony had no idea who was talking or what had been said. Then, he realized.

" _Did you hear me, Tony? Did you get the email I sent you?"_

"Tim, you sound so giddy that I didn't even recognize your voice," Tony said, laughing as he sat down at his computer again.

" _I'm running on an adrenaline high and I haven't slept in nearly a day,"_ Tim said, excitedly.

Tony opened the email from Tim and saw a picture of Tim holding a tiny baby. Tim looked exhausted, but he was grinning from ear to ear.

"I see it. How's Delilah?"

" _She's sleeping. It was really hard, but everything went okay. She was on bed rest, but that didn't matter in the end. Labor lasted a long time, but she got through it, and Thomas was born about three hours ago. I haven't been able to calm down enough to sleep, yet. Delilah didn't have that problem. Neither did Thomas, but I was just there. Watching. I didn't have to go through it, so I guess it makes sense."_

"Well, congratulations, Tim. Really."

" _Thanks! I'm still shaking."_ And even his voice was a little shaky.

"Are you sure _you're_ okay, Tim?" Tony asked.

" _Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just wound up. You know me. I was... I was so worried the last few weeks that I think Delilah wanted to have the baby just to get me to leave her alone. I'll probably crash in another hour or so."_

"Thanks for calling me while you're mostly coherent."

" _I'm glad I'm sounding coherent. I don't feel very coherent. Tony, I'm a dad! I'm a father! And you're an uncle. No matter what else. You're part of this."_

Tony smiled, feeling touched anew that Tim felt that way. It was special to be unofficially admitted to another family, especially since he didn't have much family of his own.

"Thanks."

" _Hey, while I'm still thinking more or less straight, you were going to be getting stuff about your transfer soon, weren't you?"_

Tony laughed, wondering at Tim's mind that he could be so wound up about a new baby and still be wondering about Tony's transfer.

"I was reading the email just before you called."

" _And?"_

"Norfolk."

" _When?"_

"May."

" _That's still almost six months."_

"Yeah, but it's a definite date. I'd rather take my time and do it right than rush and leave things undone."

" _Yeah, I guess you're right."_

"Tim?"

" _Yeah?"_

"Go and lie down. I'll bet that as soon as you stop moving, you'll fall asleep."

" _I don't know, Tony. I'm pretty wired."_

Tony looked at the picture again and he could imagine Tim's expression right now. It was probably similar to when he was wired on Abby's Caf-Pows. But this wasn't from caffeine.

"Because you're not letting yourself stop. Try it. You can give me details later and send me more pictures. Your baby looks like a deformed lizard right now, but I'll bet he'll be a lot cuter later on."

" _A lizard? He's not!"_

"I didn't say he was. I said he looks like one. All newborns are ugly lizards. It doesn't last long. They get cuter. Go and lie down."

A deep breath. _"Okay. I'll try it. You probably have work, anyway, don't you."_

"Yeah, I do. But congratulations again."

" _Thanks, Tony!"_ Another deep breath. _"Maybe I will go and see if I can stop moving around."_

"Good idea. Call me later. When you've slept."

" _Okay. I'm glad you'll be coming back, Tony."_

"Me, too. Bye, McDaddy."

" _Crazy, huh. Bye."_

Tony hung up and grinned. Tim would probably be a little embarrassed by that phone call later, but he was honored that Tim would even _think_ to call him if he was that wound up.

Knowing that Tim had a son and that he wanted Tony to be an uncle only cemented Tony's desire to be back on the East Coast.

May couldn't come fast enough.

...and maybe they could plan another road trip.

FINIS!


End file.
